Fleetwood Town 0 AFC Wimbledon 1: First-half goal defeats the Cod Army

Joey Barton’s men had given Everton a few nervous moments in the midweek Carabao Cup defeat and, against far less illustrious visitors in the Londoners, had initially looked like getting back to winning ways.

Town’s leading scorer Callum Camps was the first to test Dons keeper Connal Trueman six minutes in, with Fleetwood applying all the pressure.

The hosts’ sharp passes were finding feet, and with the Dons unable to get a toe in, Camps was able to turn and shoot with only Trueman’s vital push preventing the ball from nestling in the corner of the goal.

Trueman also had to be alert to save Josh Morris’ speculative effort from distance, which flicked off a defender’s head.

It took more than half an hour for Wimbledon to make any impression on the Fleetwood goal, and even then, a block on Alex Woodyard’s shot from the edge of the box took any sting out of it, making Alex Cairns’ save a mere formality.

But when the opening goal came with five minutes left in the first half it went the way of Wimbledon, from a move started and finished by Steve Seddon, who just days earlier rejoined the Dons on a season-long loan from Birmingham City.

The full-back made a determined charge forward with the ball and laid it off to Joe Pigott on the left flank.

Not content with that, Seddon continued his run to connect wonderfully with Pigott’s return pass and send it past Cairns’ outstretched hand to give his side a half-time lead.

Cod Army captain Paul Coutts did not emerge for the second half, Barrie McKay his replacement, but they did not lose their impetus, confidence and willingness to play through the Dons’ determined defence.

Danny Andrew was agonisingly close to an equaliser, his thunderous shot from long-range beating Trueman but smashing against the crossbar.

Moments later, McKay’s pullback for Camps almost resulted in the hosts getting back on level terms.

The team’s leading scorer fired goalwards but his fierce finish was straight at Trueman who had no time to react, the ball looping off his knee and somehow landing a foot wide of the upright.

Wimbledon were not without their chances to seal the victory but Cairns kept his side’s hopes alive, standing firm when Ryan Longman homed in on goal unchallenged.

After denying the Dons forward at the expense of a corner, Cairns then tipped Pigott’s header to safety, even finding time to palm the next set-piece ball away despite a crunching aerial challenge from Seddon.

Morris tried his luck as Fleetwood pushed hard to salvage something but his radar was slightly off, one shot clearing Trueman’s bar and another going out for a throw-in, further from goal than it had started.

The hosts’ last chance came from a foul on Ched Evans, allowing Glenn Whelan to send the ball into the box.

There was nothing wrong with the delivery but Trueman managed to get his fists to it as well as the subsequent launches back into the area.

As they had done all afternoon, Wimbledon had managed to do just about enough to escape with the win.

Fleetwood Town: Cairns, Hill, Stubbs (Saunders 78), Boyes, Andrew, Morris, Coutts (McKay 46), Whelan, Duffy (Matete 66), Evans, Camps. Subs not used: Leutwiler, Garner, Holgate, Rydel.

AFC Wimbledon: Trueman, O’Neill, Thomas, Mbiya-Kalambayi, Seddon, McLoughlin, Oksanen (Hartigan 88), Woodyard, Reilly, Longman (Roscrow 86), Pigott. Subs not used: Tzanev, Nightingale, Alexander, Chislett, Guinness-Walker.

Referee: Michael Salisbury.