Matty Stevens’ 11th goal of the season earns AFC Wimbledon win over Doncaster

Published 1 week ago
Matty Stevens scored for AFC Wimbledon (James Manning/PA)
Matty Stevens scored for AFC Wimbledon (James Manning/PA)

Matty Stevens’ 11th goal of the season inspired AFC Wimbledon to a morale-boosting 1-0 win over League Two promotion rivals Doncaster.

Luke Molyneux’s lobbed effort went wide before James Tilley’s shot from the edge of the box forced Doncaster keeper Teddy Sharman-Lowe into an excellent save during a back-and-forth opening 15 minutes.

Joseph Olowu’s phenomenal block denied Stevens a certain goal moments later, and Doncaster should have scored themselves after breaking from the resulting corner.

The chance fell to Kyle Hurst, only for his tame effort to limp wide of Owen Goodman’s goal.

The Dons broke the deadlock in the 27th minute when Josh Kelly picked out Stevens with a looping cross into the box, and their top scorer made no mistake, thumping the ball past Sharman-Lowe.

The home fans thought it was 2-0 in the 76th minute, but this time Stevens’ header from the edge of the six-yard box was saved.

Molyneux dragged a shot past a post from the edge of the box as Rovers looked for an equaliser in the closing five minutes of the match.

It did not come though, and the Dons leapfrogged their opponents into fourth place in the League Two table.