Assistant Rob Turvey says AFC Wimbledon can achieve more despite win over Crewe

Posted Wednesday, November 24, 2021 by PA

AFC Wimbledon assistant manager Rob Turvey still wants more from his side after they rallied from an early goal down to beat Crewe 3-2 at The Cherry Red Records Stadium.

Wimbledon dominated early on before Crewe, League One’s bottom side, took the lead when Christopher Long fired past Dons goalkeeper Nik Tzanev and went in off the far post.

Dons equalised through Jack Rudoni on 24 minutes before taking a 3-1 lead into the break thanks to a brace from Ollie Palmer, which included a tap in on 35 minutes and a penalty on 44 minutes.

There was a late scare when Chris Porter pulled one back in the 89th minute, though they held on to end a run of three consecutive league defeats despite a late red card for Ayoub Assal.

And while Turvey praised Palmer for his role in turning around Wimbledon’s dip in form, he insisted he still wants to see more from the squad as a whole.

He said: “We’re really pleased to have him (Ollie Palmer) back. He occupies defenders for us and he allows our other players to get in the game a bit more.

“I’m really pleased he’s found a little bit of form. He’s a big player for us, so he’s done really well.

“It was certainly a rollercoaster of an evening. In the first half we played really well. In the second half up until the 70th minute, it was really good in possession.

“The only thing we’d probably look at is the last 20 minutes. We invited that late pressure onto ourselves. I feel at the end we probably dropped a little too deep and didn’t see enough heart.

“We want to see them trying to get up and hold a higher line, and be braver.”

Crewe manager David Artell rued missed opportunities and poor decision-making after his side nearly took a point despite trailing for a significant part of the match.

He said: “We probably should have got something out of it in the end. We very rarely score poor goals, we have to work hard for our goals.

“After the first goal we had to weather the storm a bit and then we conceded a poor goal which was obviously disappointing. Then we didn’t manage the game well enough.

“We conceded a penalty. That wasn’t so much due to Wimbledon, that was more due to our own poor decision making in the final third. It gives any team a lift when you’re handing goals away like we did.

“We should have scored a header, we should have scored from another corner. We had enough chances to get a point but I’m pretty sure they would say they had enough chances to win the game as well.”