Jack Rudoni deserved to score winning penalty, says Glyn Hodges

Posted Friday, November 27, 2020 by PA

Glyn Hodges was delighted Jack Rudoni capped a fine performance by scoring the winning penalty to send AFC Wimbledon into the second round of the FA Cup.

The game ended goalless in normal time, with the Sky Bet League One outfit overcoming EFL newbies Barrow 4-2 on penalties at Holker Street.

The Dons’ boss said: “It was good to see Jack Rudoni score the winning penalty because he had a good game.

“I was a bit worried about his fitness levels because he hasn’t played that much football, but he went on to play 90 minutes and extra time and score the winning penalty on a good night for him.

“Both teams probably didn’t need extra time and it was two tired teams that finished the game and in the end it was down to technique from the penalties that saw us through.

“I enjoyed the first half and we created some good chances, but we didn’t take them and the longer we didn’t score the more tense we got and we started to try a little bit too hard and started to overthink things where in the first half it flowed quite well.

“They got better as the game went on and they caused us a few problems in the second half and it was a decent game.

“We had to freshen things up because we only played on Tuesday night, but everyone played their part and we are back at Plough Lane for the second round on Sunday.’’

Barrow boss David Dunn made nine changes after playing 48 hours previously in the league.

And despite a painful penalty shoot-out defeat, the former Blackburn midfielder was quick to take the positives after keeping a side 32 places higher in the football pyramid at bay in normal time.

Dunn stressed: “I don’t want to focus too much on the penalties but look at the positives and, of the nine changes we made, every single one of the lads was fantastic.

“They pushed a really good and competitive League One side all the way tonight.

“One thing I asked them tonight was to be solid and we did that and kept a clean sheet and to take them to extra time was really pleasing.

“Overall I thought the performance was really good. It wasn’t so much a pure football game but it was great to see how the lads kept going and defended their goal and I was really proud of them and how they went about the game tonight.

“We took a good League One side all the way and on another night we could have won it.

“I’m really pleased with the lads but disappointed to be out of the cup.”