Notts County vs AFC Wimbledon. Sky Bet League Two Play-Offs Semi-Final.
Meadow LaneAttendance12,385.
Notts County 0-1 AFC Wimbledon: Riley Harbottle's winner earns Dons slender play-off advantage
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet League Two play-off semi-final first leg between Notts County and AFC Wimbledon at Meadow Lane on Saturday; Riley Harbottle's header earn Dons a slender advantage ahead of next Saturday's second leg; Alassana Jatta sent off for hosts
Sunday 11 May 2025 00:02, UK
AFC Wimbledon will take a slender advantage into their play-off semi-final second leg against 10-player Notts County after a 1-0 win in the first leg at Meadow Lane.
Dons defender Riley Harbottle scored the only goal of a closely-fought affair just before the hour on Saturday night.
And the hosts ended the night without talisman Alassana Jatta, who was shown a straight red card deep into second-half stoppage time for a two-footed lunge on Alistair Smith.
- As it happened | Teams | Match stats
- All you need to know - Streaming Sky Sports with NOW | Get Sky Sports
- Download the Sky Sports App to watch every Sky Sports+ game
- Live EFL on Sky Sports+ & how to watch | Get more EFL to your phone with WhatsApp
The return leg at the Cherry Red Records Stadium is live on Sky Sports Football from 12pm on Saturday May 17; kick-off 12.30pm.
Notts County had a penalty appeal waved away just before the half-hour mark, before which the game had been largely uneventful. Conor Grant's strike appeared appeared to strike the hand of Joe Lewis at point-blank range, but the ball was travelling at high speed and, as such, complaints were waved away.
The game then sparked into life, though.
Alex Bass denied his former side the opener with an incredible fingertip save to push Ryan Johnson's towering header around the post, shortly before Dons stopper Owen Goodman's smart reaction save kept out Grant's fierce drive, repeating his good work shortly after the break.
With 59 minutes on the clock, the Dons were in front when Jake Reeves looped in a first-time cross from the left, with Harbottle taking advantage of suspect defending to head home.
County upped the ante and had two great chances to equalise, with Jodi Jones striking the post with a dipping effort and a shot from the luckless Grant hooked away after a superb recovery run from Josh Neufville.
And the evening ended on a sour note, when Jatta - who scored 19 goals in the regular season - saw red, ruling him out of contention for next weekend.
WATCH & VOTE: Did Jatta deserve to see red?
Former Notts County boss Luke Williams on Sky Sports Football:
"Not for me. First of all, I don't think there's any contact and I think the right leg leads and then the left leg comes around later, but it gives the appearance of it being two-footed.
"I don't think it is (a red card) and I don't think there's any contact. I think the boy [Smith] has done well, he's made the most of it and that's unfortunate."
Aaron McLean on Sky Sports Football:
"I've got to say, on first viewing, it looks like a two-footed challenge and the referee only gets one look at it.
"I think Smith's reaction almost makes the referee's mind up. He actually doesn't make contact with Smith. Smith sees him coming, jumps it and just goes down. He goes down as if he's been caught, which you'd have to say is a little bit of gamesmanship from him.
"I think it's a bit of frustration as well. Harbottle's holding him, then once he gets free, he just lunges in and it gives the referee a decision to make. The referee has obviously looked at it and felt it was reckless and endangering the opponent and he gets his marching orders."
Maynard: We need to find a way to hurt them
Notts County's Stuart Maynard:
"Honestly, I don't know (how we've lost). I thought we were absolutely outstanding. Their goalie is Man of the Match for a reason; he's probably made two of the best saves I've seen this season.
"There's a reason why they've got the best defensive record in the league. They put their bodies on the line, they get in the way of the ball, they make blocks they probably shouldn't make. But, ultimately, two or three of the chances are clear chances we should probably take.
"We need to watch it back on the video. We need to find a way that we can hurt them even more than what we did tonight and try and control the game. It's half-time in the tie, so we've got to make sure that we come out in the second half and we need to score a goal. We'll analyse it and reflect without emotion."
On penalty appeals: "I think we should have at least one in the first half and probably one in the second half. I haven't watched the penalty incidents back, but from the side you can see a clear handball and in the second half, Conor Grant is going to shoot and he gets his leg taken away."
On Jatta's sending off: "He gets his shirt pulled before. I'd have to watch it back on the video to comment fully whether it is a red or not a red, so I can't really comment on that."
Jackson warns against complacency in second leg
AFC Wimbledon's Johnnie Jackson:
"I loved my team's performance. I thought we were very, very good. We had to suffer a bit. They're a good team, they've got good players and we knew that they'd put us under a lot of pressure in a bit of a cauldron atmosphere and we had to deal with that and we did.
"We had some really good moments ourselves. We scored the only goal in the game and when we've had to defend, we made blocks, tackles and the goalkeeper's pulled off in the first half an unbelievable save, so did Bass as well for them. I'm really pleased with how we went about it. The attitude of my players is what's pleased me the most.
"The boys have put their bodies on the line when they've needed to and we're going to have to do that again because they're going to come to our place with the attitude that they can come and win and throw everything at us again and we need to be ready to do what we've done tonight one more time.
"We said we were going to come here and try and win the game. That'll be the same next week. We'll go and attack it, we'll approach it in the right way, do the work on Notts again this week, and we'll go there and try and win again."
On missing his wife's 40th birthday party: "The cat's out of the bag! Cruel twist of fate with the game getting moved to Saturday night. I better say happy birthday, otherwise I'll be in big trouble. Definitely worth missing that one. I'm going to get myself down the road and see what time I get back!"
