Stephen Crainey starts Fleetwood interim reign with draw at AFC Wimbledon

Posted Sunday, November 28, 2021 by PA

Callum Johnson’s header ensured Fleetwood avoided an eighth defeat in nine games during interim manager Stephen Crainey’s first game in charge.

In an entertaining 2-2 draw at AFC Wimbledon, Ged Garner fired Fleetwood into a first-half lead before strikes by Ayoub Assai and Luke McCormick turned the tables, only for Johnson to have the final say.

Earlier, the visitors thought they had taken an 18th-minute lead when Callum Morton beat home keeper Nik Tzanev at the second time of asking, but his effort was ruled out for a mysterious infringement.

The Cod Army did forge ahead, however, in the 35th minute when a Ben Heneghan blunder saw him give the ball away to Garner 40 yards from goal and the 23-year-old forward raced through the left channel before finishing confidently past Tzanev.

His goal meant the Dons had conceded first for a seventh successive home game.

But the hosts levelled with their first on-target shot when Anthony Hartigan’s free-kick from the left unsettled the Fleetwood defence and, after the ball broke fortuitously to Assai off McCormick, the Moroccan teenager found Alex Cairns’ bottom-left corner with a composed 10-yard finish in the 52nd minute.

McCormick then found Cairns’ top-left corner from a similar distance after a slick passing move down the left in the 79th minute.

The visitors secured a point five minutes later, however, when Johnson headed in Paddy Lane’s left-wing cross from four yards in front of a jubilant away end.