AFC Wimbledon 4-1 Bishop’s Stortford

Jon Main got back to form with a bang as ten-man Wimbledon pulled Bishop’s Stortford to pieces.

This emphatic display a player short will fire out an ominous warning to the rest of the Blue Square South.

Dons recovered from being a goal down to thrash Martin Hayes’ lacklustre side – in part thanks to Main’s rummaging the night before.

The out of form forward, who hadn’t scored a goal from open play since August Bank Holiday’s late strike against Bromley, dug out last season’s boots from his loft in an attempt to get in on the goals.

It worked wonders as Main scored twice with Sam Hatton and Danny Kedwell also getting in on the act during an afternoon of thrilling entertainment at Kingsmeadow watch by another bumper 3,000+ crowd.

Manager Terry Brown explained: “Jon spent ages searching for his old Umbro boots. He looked everywhere and I’m glad he kept going!

“We are going to patch them up for a while I think because his confidence is back and it’s great to see.

“His partnership with Danny Kedwell is getting better and better. I believe these two could be the best pairing in the league and they showed why today.

“When we went down to ten after Jake (Leberl) was sent-off we gambled on Bishop’s Stortford’s gamble – we knew they would push more on us and we did likewise.

“Jake’s sending off? He has caught the man but he hasn’t meant to catch him. Was it a goalscoring opportunity? Not for me. Was Andy Little going to get there? I think he was.

“But with ten men we carried on playing our football. It was at one stage looking like an awkward afternoon but after we had the stuffing taken out of us we didn’t look back.”

That terrible start was the beginning of an afternoon to forget for Leberl. Two minutes in he handled Danny Harris’ cross and Piers Wixon scored from the spot.

But back came the Dons and the impressive Sam Hatton restored parity when he thundered home a header from Chris Hussey’s fine corner.

Hussey’s confusing free-kick then almost brought the lead and Luke Garrard was unlucky not to win a penalty with half-time looming after Luke Webster’s clear handball.

But at the start of the first-half Wimbledon were wasteful. Tom Davis and Leberl missed two sitters with Stortford’s defence nowhere to be seen.

Main, from substitute Jason Goodliffe’s inviting through-ball, left supporters ripping their hair out after the forward somehow failed to convert the easiest of chances.

Then came the moment the whole of Kingsmeadow had been waiting for. Hatton’s header was pushed into the path of the striker and Main looped the ball into the top corner.

The relief was evident but Leberl got too close a grip of Harris soon after and out came the red card.

This just fused Wimbledon closer together and when Main found those scoring boots again on 65 minutes following Kedwell’s brilliance on the right it was game over.

Hatton could have added another and Main smacked the post before Kedwell’s backheel with seven minutes remaining on the clock added deserved shine.

Then Stortford substitute David Cuick was given his marching orders by the abysmal match official Mr Knapp in time added on to mass head scratching all around.

Furious Bishop’s boss Martin Hayes said: “I feel totally ashamed of my team and I’ll probably still be searching for where they went this time tomorrow.”