Oxford United vs AFC Wimbledon. Sky Bet League One.
The Kassam StadiumAttendance7,742.
Sunday 9 October 2016 18:57, UK
AFC Wimbledon secured their first win over Oxford United and ended their unbeaten home record with a comfortable 3-1 win at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The victory means AFC Wimbledon are above MK Dons in the Football League for the first time in their history.
Wimbledon began slowly but landed the first blow when Tom Elliott reacted to Darius Charles knocking the ball back across the box to head in the opener.
Charles went from provider to scorer when he curled a stunner past Simon Eastwood under controversial circumstances, and with a minute until the break, Andy Barcham ran onto an excellent through ball from Jake Reeves to finish calmly.
The U's came out with a point to prove and Chris Maguire broke down the right, delivering a low cross which was steered beyond James Shea by Charles, his own defender.
The match begun slowly for Wimbledon in the opening 15 minutes, with only Lyle Taylor showing any flair and incentive to get the visitors going.
However, for all of the possession and pressing from Oxford, it was Wimbledon who broke the deadlock. A floating corner found the head of Charles, who showed great awareness to play the ball back across goal and onto the head of Elliott, who powered his effort over the line despite the best efforts of two defenders.
That goal - the sixth headed by Wimbledon, the most in the league - stunned the hosts, who subsequently abandoned their passing football for a more direct approach in the hope of levelling the score.
A scrappy contest was nearly lit up by a moment of brilliance from Liam Sercombe, who controlled superbly from a strong pass and jinked his way into the area, but his outside-of-the boot effort went agonisingly wide of the right hand post.
With the interval fast approaching, Wimbledon doubled their lead and did so in spectacular fashion, through an unlikely source.
A heavy tackle on Wes Thomas by former Stevenage midfielder Dean Parrett looked to be on the over zealous side, but referee Darren Deadman saw nothing wrong and the ball rolled kindly to Charles who bent it into the top corner.
With celebrations still ongoing, Wimbledon would soon be enjoying another goal just a minute later following a great run from Reeves, who then played the perfect pass into the path of Barcham and he calmly rolled the ball into the back of the net.
Michael Appleton - who must have been furious at watching his side fall apart - sent them back out onto the pitch early, his words still ringing in their ears as they looked to mount a comeback.
And they began in exactly the right manner to do so. Breaking into the box after a powerful surge down the right, Maguire fizzed in a low cross and Charles stretched to divert the ball behind for a corner, but could only watch in disbelief as he put into his own goal.
That should have sparked a comeback for the home team, but they found the first-half brilliance of Wimbledon coupled with their own errors too much to deal with and in the end it was a comfortable win for Wimbledon who now move up to 10th with Oxford dropping down to 13th.
