Mark Hughes rues red card as Bradford held by AFC Wimbledon

Posted Sunday, January 15, 2023 by PA

Bradford boss Mark Hughes admitted his 10-man side were disappointed to grab just one point after a disappointing 0-0 draw away at AFC Wimbledon.

The Bantams have now just two wins in their last seven league games.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men after 60 minutes when Jamie Walker was sent off for a second bookable offence after a pair of late challenges.

Hughes said: “We can’t be too disappointed with the circumstances of the game. At half-time I said to Jamie that he needed to be careful, he needed to understand there was potential for that desire to damage the team.

“He plays on the edge, that’s why we love the way he plays – it is very difficult to take that edge away from him. Unfortunately, he got his timing wrong, and it was clearly another yellow card.

“He is an experienced player and should have done better in that situation.”

Hoping to revive a promotion push, Hughes handed on-loan Burnley forward Dara Costelloe his Bradford debut but the youngster failed to make his mark.

“I think he did OK and we are pleased that he is with us,” said Hughes, who revealed Costelloe’s involvement was a late decision.

The Dons are now unbeaten in their last six games at the Cherry Red Records Stadium and Wimbledon manager Johnnie Jackson credited the atmosphere for the recent run of impressive home form.

“It is a difficult place to come,” said Jackson, whose side have lost one of their last 13 league games.

“It is a partisan ground that gets behind us – they make it difficult for the opposition. We are always on the front foot here and we try to take the game to the opposition. I think you saw that today in a hotly contested game, we were trying to take it to them.

“The crowd recognises that and gets behind us.”

It was another defiant defensive performance from Wimbledon, who have now kept back-to-back clean sheets.

Jackson said: “I think we are doing a lot of things right as a team and if we continue to perform like that we will pick up a lot of points.

“If you want to be a successful team, you need to be solid. You need to have a defensive foundation and that is the key. We then need to work on the goals and the quality which will eventually come, and today it was really encouraging at the top end of the pitch but it didn’t quite fall for them.

“It is another clean sheet, and we are not conceding a lot of goals as a team.”

Wimbledon sit four points off the play-off places.