Wally Downes: AFC Wimbledon players got their decision-making wrong in second half against Charlton Athletic
BY RICHARD CAWLEY
Wally Downes was left disappointed by his AFC Wimbledon side’s decision-making in the second half of today’s 2-1 loss to Charlton Athletic.
The Dons led at the break with Michael Folivi scoring his first Football League goal – the Watford loanee producing a smart flick to convert Terell Thomas’ cross from the left.
But Naby Sarr struck a superb free-kick equaliser after the restart before Igor Vetokele grabbed a late winner.
Downes said: “We played very well in the first half as a group. We were solid in midfield and hit them swiftly on the break. We made some good decisions as a team and deserved to go in at half-time 1-0 up.
“At the start of the second half we started making bad decisions and that unfortunately gave Charlton a chance to get more in their stride.
“You are defined by the decisions you make as a footballer and the more you get right then the higher you are going to play. If you make wrong decisions you are going to get punished for them and we did.
“You hope the players have got the strength of character to see it through [after a good first half] and see it through, because Charlton didn’t change anything. But unfortunately we made one or two decisions early on that made me think ‘should I change things now’. It was just disappointing to see us veer from the way we played in the first half.
“We still battled and we were okay, but sometimes when you preaching to play your certain way – forward and wide as we did today – to see it not done is galling.”
Home fans were baying for Sarr to see red for a foul on the touchline just after his leveller.
But Downes did not have a clear view of the incident.
“They [Wimbledon’s players] said to me he shouldn’t have been on the pitch,” said the Dons chief. “He fouled Joe Pigott in the first half [and should have got booked]. The linesman made a couple of strange decisions and the referee was influenced by the linesman, I don’t know why he made himself so busy with that.
“If he got that one wrong then we’ll see it later on.”
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