Wimbledon leave the Poppies wilting (From Croydon Guardian)

Wimbledon leave the Poppies wilting

8:26pm Sunday 5th September 2010 in

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Kettering 1-2 AFC Wimbledon

Danny Kedwell was once again on hand to secure Wimbledon's way back to the top of the Blue Square Bet Premier.

The mesmeric front man scored his sixth goal of the season to confirm the club's third away day success already.

But it was another of this season's star performers, right-back Sam Hatton, who opened the scoring on 13 minutes at Rockingham Road.

Hatton's free-kick was placed perfectly beyond Nathan Abbey in the Kettering goal but the lead was shortlived.

Lee Harper's team were back on terms when Iyseden Christie's shot took a wicked deflection off Jean-Paul Marna. Seb Brown, completely wrong-footed, had no chance.

Wimbledon should have snatched the advantage back when Kedwell got his shot all wrong to let the Poppies off the hook.

But you can't keep a good Don down. And right now, there's no-one better than the former Grays and Welling striker.

Eleven minutes into the second period he made amends. Christian Jolley did the hard work, setting up Kedwell to bury beyond Abbey in front of the away fans.

Both sides had their chances but 2-1 is how it stayed as Terry Brown's team return to the top.

The manager said: “This is a very difficult place to come and for a second season running to take the three point here is just fantastic.

“The only let down was our finishing, that was disappointing at times and you have to be careful you don't get caught out at the other end. They knocked balls into our box and it put us under pressure but we had enough chances to win two games.

“We were dominant in the second half but you can't miss the sort of chances we did. Three beggared belief to be honest!

“But we showed character and again Danny has come up with what we were looking for. It's another fantastic win for us and we're back in first place.”

Kettering have a poor home record this season and their manager Harper has sympathy with the unhappy home crowd.

“I am sure it was a good spectacle but it wasn't a good spectacle for our supporters because they want us to be winning football matches here,” he said.

“I have to take responsibility and I know that but we got some bad decisions against us and that just adds to the frustration.”