Mark Robinson: Last-gasp equaliser was a kick in the teeth for Dons

Posted Wednesday, August 18, 2021 by PA

Mark Robinson felt like he had been kicked in the teeth after a late equaliser cost AFC Wimbledon two points in a 1-1 draw against Gillingham at Plough Lane.

The Dons opened the scoring through Ollie Palmer after David Tutonda was sent off for a foul on Henry Lawrence.

However, there was late drama as Paul Kalambayi’s own goal pulled a result out of nowhere for the Gills, who remain winless in Sky Bet League One.

Wimbledon manager Mark Robinson said: “It feels like a kick in the teeth.

“We have to look at the positives and there are plenty of them, we were totally dominant in the second half before they went down to 10 men.

“Football is an emotional game and my staff are probably thinking that Gillingham scored as a result of their time-wasting at 0-0 when their goalkeeper is taking 30 seconds at every kick and they’ve ended up scoring from it.

“We need to look as a group to see if there’s anything better we could have done leading up to the goal.

“They came out in the second half, tweaked their shape so we changed ours and we got on top.

“I thought we got on the ball in the second half at 11 versus 11 and I thought we were the only team who were going to score in open play.

“First half their shape behind the ball was decent and we didn’t really find the spaces we were hoping to find.”

After a goalless first half, Gillingham defender Tutonda was shown a second yellow card in the 71st minute for a clumsy lunge that brought down Lawrence on the edge of the penalty area.

The Dons took the lead after Palmer headed Luke McCormick’s pinpoint delivery past Jamie Cumming and into the bottom-right corner five minutes from time.

However, Harvey Lintott’s long-range shot deflected off Kalambayi with the last kick of the game to send the Gillingham fans at Plough Lane into a state of euphoria.

Gills manager Steve Evans said: “We lost here to a late goal last season when we played like Real Madrid, so it was a little bittersweet tonight.

“I’m satisfied with the point, I’m not satisfied with the performance.

“But we must look at the options: Wimbledon can make seven changes tonight and we come here and play two lads who’ve trained one hour in five weeks.

“I’m in the trenches, they’re in the trenches, and it’s really sweet that the kid who took the volley on for the equaliser is Harvey Lintott, who thought he was getting released from this club in April.

“We’re immensely proud of him and we’re proud of the spirit.”