Dons step up search for a striker after Havant stalemate

7:15pm Saturday 28th February 2009

By Sam Elliott

Terry Brown set his sights on addressing his lack of striking back-up after firing blanks at lowly Havant this afternoon.

In a game of few chances, the Dons had to make do with a point as title rivals Hampton won late on despite falling behind at Worcester City.

With Jon Main needing to be withdrawn 15 minutes from time, there was no sign of a front man on the bench.

The manager was forced to bring midfielder Tom Davis on and shift the frustrated Tony Finn into the attack. And Brown says the situation needs addressing if Wimbledon are going to cling on to first place.

“We don’t have that. We’ve been trying to get another striker in but so far it’s not happened. It’s something that needs sorting because we have very, very little in the way of back up. It’s not ideal and we can’t keep relying on Keds (Kedwell) and Jon Main.

“We need to take the pressure off them. We have been trying and this is another important week. We’re hopeful of getting something done.”

On the game, which Wimbledon should have nicked had sub Davis and then Elliott Godfrey both converted simple close-range chances, the boss wasn’t downbeat.

“We aren’t disappointed by the 0-0 draw,” he said. “We haven’t played badly, we’ve just not been able to break through. When a side has five or six centre-backs on the pitch at one time in makes life a bit difficult!

“The pitch also was very poor. You should try even walking on it! That’s not an excuse because we still didn’t create anywhere near enough.”

Havant, despite their position just outside the Blue Square South drop-zone, know how to put in one-off performances.

Both Chris Hussey and Andy Sambrook had to be alert to prevent Paul Booth getting a goal against the club that wanted him in the summer in a poor first half.

It got better after the re-start with Jake Leberl going close from long range and Main, following Kedwell’s excellent control and pass, couldn’t get the ball out from under his feet as the chance went begging.

Davis’ miss was the worst of the lot – but Havant manager Shaun Gale thinks Wimbledon will still win the league despite seeing their advantage over Hampton reduced to seven points.

He said: “When you’re down the bottom fighting for your lives like we are you certainly don’t turn your nose up a points against the run-away league leaders.

“You have to turn in solid defensive performances like we did today. We had to defend like men but we’ve reduced Wimbledon to half chances, but they are the best side in the league and they’ll be alright.”