AFC Wimbledon 2 Wycombe Wanderers 2

By Wycombe fan 'Phil' *

*With apologies for he late post, but I've just picked up my e-mails! If you are a Wycombe fan, I would suggest following  Phil on Twitter: @bluntphil - Jeff

An incredibly hoarse Wycombe player/manager Gareth Ainsworth croaked that he hopes Wimbledon avoid the drop this season despite his side stealing a point from one of his many former clubs.

Neil Ardley was left scratching his head after Wimbledon failed to take the three points after dominating large parts of the game and extended their poor run of form at Kingsmeadow.

Striker Paul McCullum was the star of the show with a brace in the penultimate game of his loan spell and would have claimed a hat trick had he not been thwarted twice by in form Wycombe keeper Jordan Archer.

McCullum,19, has now scored four goals in as many games and just signed a two and a half year contract at parent club West Ham. He said:

"I want to play at the highest level but I'm a local boy and if Wimbledon want to extend my stay I'd be happy to play here"

It was Wycombe who started the brighter and opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Dean Morgan broke away down the right before pulling a clever ball back to Joe Kuffour who turned and fired a deflected shot which spun across the face of goal and went in off the post

This sprung Wimbledon into life and they levelled on 15 minutes after loose defending by Hause resulted in a corner which was not cleared and Paul McCullum was on hand to slam the ball into the roof of the net from inside the six yard box.

The home side took the momentum and were unlucky not to go into the lead after McCullum's close range effort was superbly tipped onto the bar by Archer. However, he didn't have to wait long for his second goal after some tenacious work by Stacey Long down the right picked out McCullum in the penalty area and he was able to turn his man and fire in into the bottom corner to give Wimbledon a deserved half time lead.

The second half began with the home side continuing to dominate, crucially without adding to the score line after Archer again denied McCullum from close range.

It took the introduction of Bruno Andrade and Matt McClure just after the hour to get Wycombe back into the game. Wanderers were awarded a free kick mid way into the Wimbledon half and it was McClure who notched his seventh goal of the season with a right foot finish into the bottom corner after the Dons failed to clear on seventy two minutes.

Neither side were able to nick it in the closing stages and it was Neil Ardley who was left the more frustrated of the two managers, he said:

"I've got mixed emotions. I'm angry and frustrated at dropping two points in a game we should have won. On the flipside, the performance was really good. There was a twenty minute spell where we needed to score to kill the game off. When you have the momentum you need to make it count and where we are at the bottom we've had trouble doing that."

Wycombe assistant manager Richard Dobson conceded that it was definitely a point gained and said:

"We didn't play well enough after the first goal and took our foot of the pedal. Sometimes when you score first you think it'll be easier than it actually is, credit to Wimbledon for coming back and putting us under pressure. They kept on us and as the game went on they grew in confidence and were unlucky not to get the third."

AFC Wimbledon: (4-4-2) - Sullivan, Osana (Hussey '45), Antwi, Mitchel-King (c), Meades, Ajala, Long, Sweeney, Moore, McCallum (Harrison '73), Midson (Prior '88)
Subs not used: Balkestein, Jaimez-Ruiz, Kiernan, Fenlon

Wycombe Wanderers: (4-4-2) - Archer, Harriman, Winfield (c), Hause, Dunne (Andrade '66), Grant, Scowen, Lewis, Wood, Morgan, Kuffour (McClure '66)
Subs not used: Spring, Harrison, McCoy, Stewart, Ainsworth

Referee - Mr G Sutton
Attendance - 4507 (764 away)