By Bruce Archer
AFC Wimbledon midfielder Peter Sweeney said there are positives to take from Tuesday’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat at Brentford.
On a night where is it rained goals at Griffin Park, Jim Fenlon, George Francomb and Sweeney all got their first goals of the season – but they could not prevent a 5-3 beating at the hands of the League One outfit.
It was Sweeney’s first goal in a Dons shirt since arriving at the Cherry Red Records stadium in January and, despite the calibre of the opposition, the 28-year-old pointed to a small 10-minute window as being decisive.
He said: “It was always going to be hard going to Brentford, they’re an established club looking for promotion to the Championship.
“They’ve bought players for good money and on good wages, but I felt we matched them in large spells so we’ll take the positives from it.”
Brentford had a slender 1-0 lead at the break, but three goals in 10 second-half minutes had the Dons 4-1 down and all-but out of the game.
Sweeney said: “We are all a little bit disappointed to be honest. We showed a lot of courage to come back when we went 5-1 down.
“We maybe could have had a penalty when their keeper and George [Porter] came together at 2-0.
“If the keeper gets sent off, it’s a different game, but that 10 minutes cost us.”
Despite his disappointment, Sweeney said the Dons’ main priority lay with the League Two campaign.
Dons go to York City this weekend, who the Dons were unbeaten against in four match-ups last term, followed by a trip to the current league leaders Chesterfield the weekend after.
Sweeny said: “We’ve got to treat both games in exactly the same way as we have been doing, which has got us where we are, so we’ll go to York looking for three points.
“The gaffer has his plan and we’ll be looking to outplay them.”
Boss Neal Ardley said: “If we were a bit gung-ho, I will take the rap for that.
“We wanted to have a good go at it in the second-half and we pushed players forward to try and win the game.”
Glum bench: Neal Ardley looks on as the Dons concede Picture: David Purday
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