Steve Evans hails Stevenage’s character after win at AFC Wimbledon

Posted Wednesday, March 01, 2023 by PA

Stevenage manager Steve Evans was delighted with how his side fought back from a poor first half to earn a thrilling 3-2 victory at AFC Wimbledon.

The Boro had not won in their last five games in League Two and trailed at half-time to Ali Al-Hamadi’s opener but improved massively in the second half to get their promotion push back on track.

They are now back up to second in the table after going above Carlisle and four points clear of fourth-placed Northampton, following their draw at struggling Harrogate.

Evans said: “I think in the first half they looked better than us.

“We looked a little bit what it was, some players hadn’t played in a while – people like Daryl Horgan and Jake Taylor just hadn’t played and the pace of the game was hectic.

“We know it’s a mistake [for the opening goal]. It’s from the wind but, in the words of Toby [Savin], he should deal with a simple cross.

“He thinks he’s got it and it’s gone away at the last minute, and we’re 1-0 down.

“I said to them at half-time ‘we’ve got to have some manly bits on our body and we have to have character and we have to go and fight and we have to get in the trenches’.

“How can you complain about the second half? You can’t.

“We’ve beaten a really good side, I think it’s always a hard place to come.”

Wimbledon led at the break when Al-Hamadi bundled in after Savin missed Armani Little’s cross, but Stevenage turned the game around thanks to Carl Piergianni’s header and Kasey McAteer’s own goal.

Al-Hamadi then levelled for the Dons when he turned in the rebound after hitting the bar before Luke Norris settled the match for the Boro with a firm finish with seven minutes left.

Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson said: “It’s one of those games where you sort of don’t know how you’ve lost.

“Well, I do know we lost it because we conceded poor goals but on the balance of the play and how we performed, I obviously don’t feel we’ve come away from it with what we deserved.

“But that’s football, you’ve got to defend your box in key moments and that’s going to make it difficult to win.

“I thought we played really well in the first half. We controlled the game, we created a lot of openings, got one goal, should have had more and arguably should have been out of sight at half-time.

“They’re getting beat, they need a stimulus to get back into the game and they’ve got the luxury of being able to make the subs that they did, but it was two set-pieces from our point of view.”