We had to really dig deep – Johnnie Jackson salutes Wimbledon ‘character’

Posted Friday, December 30, 2022 by PA

Johnnie Jackson applauded the character of his AFC Wimbledon side after they came from behind to win 2-1 at Colchester and extend their unbeaten run to 10 matches.

Ethan Chislett netted the visitors’ 89th-minute winner from close range after Huseyin Biler’s long-range effort was parried into his path by goalkeeper Kieran O’Hara.

Josh Davison had headed the visitors’ equaliser from Ayoub Assal’s cross from close range in the 67th minute.

It cancelled out John Akinde’s 51st-minute penalty for the hosts, awarded after goalkeeper Nik Tzanev had fouled Samson Tovide in the area.

Wimbledon boss Jackson said: “We had to really dig deep, we had to defend well.

“Colchester put us under a lot of pressure, especially when they went in front.

“We had a little period where it was really backs to the wall and we had to ride it out.

“We stayed in the game and we were a threat at the other end and we always fancy ourselves to score a goal.

“It was important that we stayed in the game at that stage because they were definitely in the ascendency in that 10-to 15-minute period.

“But we rode it out and came out as winners.

“It shows the character of our team and I’ve been banging on about it for weeks now.

“We’ve had more resilience about us and tonight we’ve had to show it in a different way by going behind and then finding a way.

“We kept persevering and that’s what this team does.”

Colchester had come close to doubling their lead when Akinde’s low effort rattled a post on the hour mark.

And the hosts also saw substitute Emyr Huws’ stoppage-time effort cleared off the line by Ryley Towler as they fell to defeat.

Boss Matt Bloomfield said: “We did the hard work and we got ourselves in front.

“We were 1-0 up and so close to scoring a second when we hit the post.

“At that point we felt like we were comfortable.

“I kind of feel we shot ourselves in the foot with two goals from restarts and the lack of discipline in those sort of situations.

“We’ve worked on them a lot since I’ve been here and I felt like we had it in control over the last couple of weeks, but unfortunately tonight it’s hurt us.

“Those restart and set-piece situations are really important in any game and we need to tighten up in those situations.

“Their goals were two situations where we should still be in control.

“We then had one cleared off the line at the end, so it’s small margins that decide so many football matches and they went against us tonight.”