Wilder bemoans lack of attacking quality in Dons draw

HONOURS EVEN - Chris Wilder shakes hands with AFC Wimbledon counterpart Neal Ardley at the end of the 1-1 draw at Kingsmeadow on Tuesday (Pictures: Kirsty Edmonds)

Cobblers boss Chris Wilder lamented his side’s lack of quality on the ball after they were held to a 1-1 draw by AFC Wimbledon.

The Dons will feel they should have come away with all three points having created the better chances, but the spoils were shared as John-Joe O’Toole’s excellent header cancelled out Adebayo Azeez’s opener.

Northampton finished strongly and had chances to steal victory late on, but the game finished all square.

Wilder said afterwards: “It was a really tough game, it always is when you come here.

Sam Hoskins brought renewed impetus as a second half sub. Pictures by Kirsty Edmonds

“I think (Wimbledon manager) Neal (Ardley) feels a bit hard done by with the amount of chances they created.

“They put too many balls into our box but we always looked a threat and looked like we could score.

“I’m a bit disappointed with how we kept the ball because we didn’t get the ball down and play.

“We’ve got to work a bit harder off the ball to make the options on the ball a bit easier, we didn’t make enough decent runs and the movement wasn’t good enough.

“I thought we were better when Sam Hoskins came on and we played one in behind. He got on the ball a bit more and we looked to play more.

“We have to be braver with the ball and take that extra touch and pass our way out it because when we do that, we’re a decent side.

“The quality has to be there from back to front and it wasn’t there.

“The service into the front men wasn’t good enough

“That’s why we changed it - to give them a different problem to deal with and I thought we caused them a few more problems when we changed it around.

“Whether we play two up front or one off one, the ball up to the front men or the ball down the sides has to be of a good quality and it wasn’t tonight.

“When we did get control of the ball and took a pass or two then we looked quite dangerous, but it’s another point and now we move on to Saturday.”

The draw extends Northampton’s unbeaten run to four matches, and Wilder was again happy with his side’s battling efforts, especially given the current injury problems.

He added: “Tonight wasn’t a flowing performance from us, as Saturday wasn’t, but we’ve played two difficult games now and with the situation as it is, we’ve managed to pick up a couple of good points.

“We’ve dug in and defended when we had to.

“We could have lost it, we could have won it but we’ll take a draw and that’s now one defeat in seven so it keeps our run going.”