Wanderers moved their season up a gear with an emphatic victory which gave Steven Schumacher his biggest winning margin as Whites’ boss, _writes Pete Oliver_.
Having been undefeated since the opening day of the season, Schumacher’s side needed to step on the gas to make sure of just a second League One success and did so in impressive style to move into the top half of the table.
Leading 1-0 at half-time through Mason Burstow’s fourth goal of the campaign Wanderers always looked in control with a dominant display which yielded further goals once Marcus Browne had been sent off for the Dons five minutes into the second half.
Amario Cozier-Duberry capped another eye-catching display with his first league goal for the Whites and Joel Randall also helped himself to a first of the campaign to cap off a successful week which also brought an Vertu Trophy win and the final touches to a powerful-looking squad for tougher tests to come.
In six previous meetings between the clubs Wanderers had never lost to the Dons, who renewed the rivalry following promotion from League Two last season.
Their start to the season had seen them kick off above Wanderers in the table and the visitors had an early chance take the initiative when leading scorer Matty Stevens headed a Nathan Asiimwe free-kick wide of the target from little more than six yards out.
Stevens and Chris Forino were engaged in something of a running battle throughout the first half but it was the Wanderers’ man who was able to make the most telling contribution before the break to help the Whites take the lead.
The opening goal came with half an hour gone and was just what Schumacher’s men needed as they looked to sustain their early impetus and gain some reward for their superiority.
Forino’s presence in the Wimbledon penalty area was decisive as he met an Aaron Morley free-kick with a header which bounced off the inside of a post and back across goal for the predatory Burstow to react quickest and force the ball home from close range to add to his tidy tally.
The return of Forino in place of Eoin Toal – absent along with Josh Sheehan on international duty – was one of four changes Schumacher made to his starting line-up on the back of a fourth successive league draw at Blackpool a week ago.
Xavier Simons, Randall and Thierry Gale also got the nod and Randall and Gale were behind some of Wanderers’ best attacking moments before half time.
The pair frequently punched holes in the Dons’ defence along with Max Conway, whose elusive running from left-back was another highlight of the opening 45 minute and led to a chance for Randall he couldn’t convert with an effort that just rolled the wrong side of the goal.
Conway’s threat evidently hadn’t gone un-noticed but when Browne attempted to stop him in his tracks five minutes into the second half it was with a high and late lunging challenge that brought the attacking midfielder a straight red card.
That strengthened Wanderers’ hand further and they quickly made Wimbledon pay with a second goal to all but kill off the visitors’ hopes.
Cozier-Duberry had been his usual livewire self and when he cut in off the right flank from Josh Dacres-Cogley’s pass he needed no second invitation to work the ball onto his left foot and curl the ball low into the far corner to claim his first league goal for the Whites.
Had Stevens been able to nod in a cross from Asiimwe shortly afterwards it might have made things less straightforward for Wanderers but having survived that reminder they quickly added a third to remove all doubt with just over an hour played.
Inevitably Cozier-Duberry was involved along with Conway, whose skidding drive was diverted inside the post by Randall’s deft touch to round off a decent afternoon for the ‘number 10’ before he made way for deadline-day signing Marcus Forss.
It was then just a question of whether Wanderers could add to their tally – Wimbledon finishing the game with nine men after defender Joe Lewis was shown a second yellow card in the final minute.
And even though Simons and substitutes Ibrahim Cissoko and Richard Taylor all tested Wombles’ keeper Nathan Bishop and Forss fired just wide, the Whites had to settle for three goals and three points to start moving them forward with purpose.
Wanderers: Sharman-Lowe; Dacres-Cogley, Forino, Johnston; Conway (Taylor 78); Morley, Simons; Cozier-Duberry (McAtee 78), Randall (Forss 66), Gale (Cissoko 78); Burstow (Dalby 56). Substitutes: Miller, Erhahon.
Booked: Gale, Forino
Wimbledon: Bishop; Ogundere, Lewis, Harbottle (Sasu 67); Asiimwe (Maycock 88), Smith (Bauer 88), Reeves, Seddon; Browne, Hippolyte (Hackford 67); Stevens (Bugiel 67). Substitutes: McDonnell, Orsi.
Booked: Reeves, Lewis.
Sent off: Browne, Lewis.
Referee: Darren Drysdale
Attendance: 20,157 (442)