Kayden Jackson’s goal deep, deep in injury time saw Town come from behind to claim a dramatic 2-1 victory over AFC Wimbledon at Portman Road. The Dons went ahead via Nesta Guinness-Walker in the 41st minute in a poor first period from the Blues. But Town were much better in the second half, equalising through James Norwood in the 81st minute before Jackson smashed in the late winner.

Skipper Luke Chambers dropped to the bench as Blues boss Paul Lambert made three changes for the first ever visit of AFC Wimbledon.

James Wilson came into the back four alongside Luke Woolfenden with Janoi Donacien and Myles Kenlock the full-backs and Tomas Holy in goal.

Lambert switched to a central midfield three with Andre Dozzell making his first League One start of the season alongside Flynn Downes and Cole Skuse, who wore the captain’s armband.

In the front three, Idris El Mizouni started for the first time this season on the left with Danny Rose on the right and Norwood in the centre.

Gwion Edwards and Jackson also dropped to the bench, alongside new loanee Anthony Georgiou. Kane Vincent-Young missed out, presumably due to the toe injury he was suffering from at the weekend.

For AFC Wimbledon, ex-Blues Shane McLoughlin and Dylan Connolly were among the subs, while there was a late change of referee with Antony Coggins taking over from Robert Jones.

The first 20 minutes passed uneventfully with neither team creating an opportunity. The Blues had had spells of possession without hurting the Dons, but more of the game had been in the Town half, although with the visitors equally unable to conjure a chance against the home backline.

A short spell of head tennis on the edge of the box led to an opening for Norwood in the 29th minute, Rowe hooking the ball into the area in front of the former Tranmere man but he scuffed his strike and El Mizouni was unable to reach the loose ball ahead of Wimbledon keeper Nathan Trott.

Four minutes later, Downes chipped a cross towards Norwood from the right but beyond the Town striker.

After their slow start, the Blues gradually began to put the Dons under pressure, winning back-to-back corners in the 35th minute. From the second, Skuse headed goalwards but Trott claimed.

A minute later, they should have gone in front. Dozzell played Norwood in on goal with a trademark threaded pass and the striker seemed set to score his first goal at Portman Road but Trott stood up well and forced it wide.

The Blues seemed to be getting on top, however, it was Wimbledon who would take the lead with their first serious shot of the evening.

Following a long kick forward by Trott, Michael Folivi held off his man with his back to goal on the edge of the box, then fed Guinness-Walker, who was breaking from deep on the left unchecked, and he smashed a shot past Holy to his left.

Town were unable to create another chance before the break with the whistle greeted by loud boos from the home support.

The Blues had started slowly but seemed to be find their feet as the half moved into its final 10 minutes with Norwood’s chance one the frontman will feel he should have taken.

However, they were caught by a sucker punch with the Dons breaking and then Guinness-Walker in acres of space as he joined the attack on the left and beat Holy with his low strike.

Town needed to improve significantly in the second half and manager Lambert made one change, handing Georgiou his debut and withdrawing El Mizouni.

A minute after the restart Donacien was booked for a foul on Luke O’Neill midway inside the Town half as he challenged following a loose pass out of his area by Holy. O’Neill took the freekick himself and the ball flashed across the area beyond the Wimbledon players in the box.

The Dons continued to look the more dangerous side with a low cross from the left forced out off a visiting player by Wilson at the near post.

Georgiou forced a foul from O’Neill in the 51st minute, the Dons man joining Donacien in the book. The Cypriot international took the freekick himself and Woolfenden’s header was blocked.

Town finally started to put the Dons under pressure and on 56 Georgiou sent in a low ball from the left which Paul Kalambayi deflected to Trott, who claimed just as Norwood stabbed a foot towards it. The keeper stayed down for a moment or two and there was a bit of pushing and shoving between the Town striker and two defenders before the game continued.

Downes went close to a brilliant equaliser in the 59th minute, the midfielder rolling his man midway inside the Wimbledon half before taking it on and hitting a shot which flew only just over. Seconds later, Lambert swapped Dozzell, who had been in and out of the game, for Jackson as the Blues moved to 4-4-2.

Town, with the fans in the Sir Bobby Robson Stand getting louder by the minute, were by now encamped in the Dons half and on 61 Georgiou sent a powerful low ball across the six-yard box but with no one able to add the final touch.

The Blues claimed a penalty a minute later when Norwood fed in the pacy Jackson on the right and the striker was felled by a combination of Trott and Rod McDonald, however, the keeper grabbed the ball and referee Coggins waved away the protests. Soon after, Kalambayi was booked for a foul on Norwood.

On 64 Georgiou, who had made a big impact having come on, whipped over a freekick from the left and the ball was cleared to Downes, who shot over from just outside the box.

The Dons reminded Town that they still had defending to do at the other end in the 68th minute after Downes failed to take down Holy’s pass out of the area. Fortunately, Wilson was able to cut out the pass through to Folivi.

The Blues broke to the other end and Norwood flashed a ball across the area with no Town player again able to get a touch.

Rowe shot wide from a Downes pass a minute later, then Kenlock cut in from the left and hit a low shot which Trott claimed at the second attempt with no Town player able to get on to the loose ball.

The Blues swapped Rowe for Alan Judge, while Wimbledon replaced Folivi with Mitchell Pinnock.

On 76, Jackson’s flick sent Judge away into the area but a Wimbledon boot intervened and the ball was kicked out for the first of two corners, neither of which came to anything.

With nine minutes remaining, the Blues finally found a leveller. After a contentious corner award on the left led to Dons skipper Scott Wagstaffe picking up a yellow card for dissent, Judge sent over a deep ball and Norwood powered a header into the net at the far post to claim his first Portman Road goal and his second in two matches. For Judge, it was only his second assist since joining Town in January.

From there, with the crowd having upped the volume even further, the Blues went looking for the winner as Wimbledon replaced Kwesi Appiah with Joe Pigott.

The Town pressure was increasing as the game reached its final scheduled minute. Georgiou saw a shot blocked, then Jackson was played in by Skuse but the ball was stabbed behind.

From the corner, the ball ran loose to Woolfenden but the defender fell as he tried to divert it goalwards. It subsequently squirmed out to Skuse but his snapshot screwed out for a throw on the far side.

In five minutes of injury time, Pigott was booked for kicking the ball away as the Blues prepared to take a freekick.

And in the aftermath of the set piece, the Blues scored their winner. After a number of balls into the box were headed clear, Skuse hooked the ball over McDonald into the path of Jackson inside the area and the substitute lashed into the net to trigger wild celebrations on the field and the terraces, while manager Lambert appeared to be booked by referee Coggins after running down the touchline.

The downcast Wimbledon players tried to get themselves back on terms in the remaining moments without success and the final whistle was met by loud cheers rather than the boos of the first half.

The two periods couldn’t have contrasted more with the first as dull as they come, the Blues finding themselves behind to a poor goal.

Town took a few minutes to find their feet in the second half but once they had done so they kept the Dons pinned back in their half and eventually got their opening via Norwood’s header before finally grabbing Jackson’s winner right at the death.

It was a victory which showed great character, particularly in the wake of so many disappointments last season, the Blues having come behind to win for the first time since Swansea away in October last year.

The three points take Town up to fifth in the early season table, two points behind new leaders Blackpool ahead of Saturday’s visit to crisis club Bolton Wanderers.

Town: Holy, Donacien, Woolfenden, Wilson, Kenlock, Skuse (c), Dozzell (Jackson 60), Downes, El Mizouni (Georgiou 46), Rowe (Judge 72), Norwood. Unused: Norris, Chambers, Huws.

AFC Wimbledon: Trott, O’Neill, Thomas, McDonald, Kalambayi, Guinness-Walker, Reilly, Hartigan, Wagstaff (c), Folivi (Pinnock 72), Appiah (Pigott 86). Unused: Tzanev, Roscrow, Connolly, McLoughlin, Osew. Referee: Antony Coggins (Oxfordshire). Att: 18,778 (AFC Wimbledon: 667).

Photo: TWTD

chilli added 09:42 - Aug 21 Terrific result! Just a shame there were idiots chanting at Wimbledon fans leaving how "sh##" they were. They weren't. They have us a hard game so be happy with the 3 points. And if that was the same group of "fans" at Luton chanting the racist stuff, please do ITFC and the rest of us a favour by never coming back to Portman Rd. Ipswich Town fans need to be up there with the best.

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jas0999 added 09:47 - Aug 21 A win is a win. Dreadful first half, recovered in the second. Good stuff. Now let's build a winning run!
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BeattiesBackPocket added 09:47 - Aug 21 Good result in the end and the three points is what's important however I don't buy this ‘resting players' like mick mills said they should be able to play 50/60 games and IF you're going to rest players fine but wait until Nsiala, Huws, Etc are for so we have decent replacements to come in. We also seem to have a nack of getting a decent striker in then never playing to their strengths which is the reason you get them in the first place we did it with pitman and first half last night with Norwood don't bring a striker in who's got his goals playing with a partner to then play him on his own. Better teams can play three up front but ours has always been more 5 in midfield and isolating the striker. We won that's important but come on guys we should do against a team with no win yet and escaped relegation last season. These next two really are must win games as well if we have any aspirations of a top 4 finish we have the team in my opinion but please play 442

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runaround added 09:50 - Aug 21 I spent most of the aftermath of the game apologising to my best friend who is a Wimbledon fan as that result was very tough on them. For first 60 minutes I thought we were poor with some players in particular being awful and you would have thought playing themselves out of the line up once every player is fit! The substitutes changed the game in our favour and we dominated towards the end. The nature of the result should be a massive boost to everyone at the club and hopefully we can build on this now. Excellent attendance last night with nearly 19k there for an evening game against lower opponents and a brilliant atmosphere at the end. Now let's kick on starting at Bolton

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Linkboy13 added 09:56 - Aug 21 It's perfectly ok to play one up front but you must have outstanding attacking midfield players or very good wing men i don't think Norwood and Jackson are the long term answer which is why he's brought in Keane as the tall striker up front to play with either Norwood or Jackson if he stays fit.
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coolcat added 10:19 - Aug 21 Tractorclarke I was wondering that myself re rotating the squad.. I seem to recall his saying about that at the start of the season. We've had so many injuries and we have more games this season, makes sense to me.. We're low on CBs with Nsiala still out so he's having to manage that at the moment. He mentions this in the EADT yesterday. https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/lambert-on-decision-to-rest-captain-chambers-1-6227

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shouldistayorcounago added 10:20 - Aug 21 First 12 minutes Wimbledon barely had a touch of the ball after kick off. We should have carried on with what were doing because we would have worn them down. Until the subs came on we were pretty poor against a pretty poor side. Kenlock was an absolute vacuum on the rest of the team for most of the game completely slowing down play and looking like a rabbit in the headlights until the second half where he did inprove but I really think he will be the weak link all season. I just don't think he'll ever be good enough. Donacien was very poor but hopefully that will improve when he is playing as centre back, if he actually gets in the side. KVY can't come soon enough. Jacko, Judge and Georgiou all made a huge difference and gave Norwood the service he needed. The last half an hour was great to see and probably a valuable lesson that we need to play 442 although fair play to Lambo for trying something different AND realising that it was not working. Hopefully that will be the wake up call for the two full bacls because they really were not good enough. Onwards and upwards, the unbeaten streak continues and the Town go marching on. Hopefully we get to play Bolton's kids at the weekend and boost our goal difference. COYB.

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TimmyH added 10:33 - Aug 21 The fact is towards the back end of that 2nd half an particularly after Jackson came on we did resort to more of a long ball, and the small hail Mary in injury time did it's job! ;)
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GiveusaWave added 11:06 - Aug 21 Thought we were going to get a full scale pitch invasion there at the end.......
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tractorblue added 11:28 - Aug 21 A win is a win,a quite awful performance for at least an hour,playing 2 up top certainly changed the game,and a last minute goal always softens any kind of dull performance.win whilst playing badly is normally a good thing,so we move onto Bolton with a bit more momentum. Im not normally a moaner of players,and i know they are only human,and poor games come at all levels,but what on earth was Donecian doing last night,i actually felt for him towards the end,because he just got worse as the game went on,i would assume new lad will be Right Back Saturday.

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runningout added 12:44 - Aug 21 Decent arrogant CB and we are sorted. Wilson doing well!! or maybe I'm greedy
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aloanagain added 13:26 - Aug 21 A lot of negativity on here. First half not too good,system not quite right,good improvement with changes for second half. We'll get a lot of game's like that this season. Wimbledon played to their strengths and almost got away with it. If this league was that easy Portsmouth and Sunderland would have been out of it last season. Support the team.
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nathitfc89 added 13:27 - Aug 21 anyone else or isit just me that think that young lad from spurs changed the game when he came on. different class. and the face that we went back to 4-4-2 worked a treat. fantastic result
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ITFCOYB added 13:43 - Aug 21 Delighted with that result - fragile confidence is growing, belief starting to return to the team (if not the fans, quite yet!). Winning is a habit. I think the stats from last night show that we dominated the game and if we can maintain that then we'll be there or thereabouts come the end of the season, i reckon. Sometimes it won't get us the win, sometimes we may even lose, as we might have done last night, but over the course of a season, we'll get what we deserve. Sorry to hear Dozzell (and even Norwood) come in for criticism - Dozzell's through ball in the first half is the kind of pass that wins games, so i hope his all around contribution can improve so he stays in the team. No problem for me if we play five across midfield as long as we are not too flat, which with both Downes and Skuse playing is quite likely. Need a Judge or a Nolan in the middle if we play that system and have one of the wide men tuck in for cover when we have possession (both when we don't). Conversely, if we do play 442, i like Downes and Skuse together - not likely to be overrun in there with those two - but places creative onus on the wide midfielders. In Dozzell and Giorgiou, with overlapping full-backs who can cross, we will be able to make that work i think. Keep it up Town and keep the faith everyone - this season is already the most enjoyable in years, if we don't get promoted, at least we'll have another season where hope and expectation of winning a few games will keep it interesting!

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madmouse1959 added 14:11 - Aug 21 Let us hope we can start scoring goals earlier in a game instead of chasing a game. Very lucky @ Peterborough and the clock was ticking down at home to Wimbledon. With players returning to the team our season should take off soon.
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Tretty1 added 14:22 - Aug 21 Credit to PL for changing the formation at half time when he realised that it wasn't working. And credit to the players to for their 2nd half performance and grit and determination. I personally don't blame PL for trying something new in the first half, he and the team reacted well in the second half. As pointed out by someone else on here they may need to change formation at different points within games as they cannot go hell for leather for a full 90 (and 6 mins additional time). They will need to be able to adjust and mix it up. Up the Town!

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herfie added 15:35 - Aug 21 Great - if, for mutch of the game, we looked like ending up highly embarrassed - 3 points. Everyone's now had their three-peneth - with some wise, and some not so wise, words spoken! I think (hope) that PL has finally reached the right conclusions, based upon sight of the bleedin' obvious, in terms of setting a team up to play to its individuals' strengths and capabilities. Junk the ‘need to rest' sports science guff, and adopt a settled team, tweaking only when injuries/suspensions etc dictate. The more individuals play together, in a settled 4-4-2, the more experience accrues and the more effective the whole team becomes. The sooner PL gets all injured lads back, thereby allowing him to know and play his strongest team, the more secure and confident individuals will become - and we'll be friggin unbeatable!

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Tretty1 added 15:43 - Aug 21 @herfie it is not possible for athletes to perform at 100% for the full 90 mins twice a week. The body does not recover sufficiently to handle that, fact. If your team are playing 60-70% effort twice a week then fine yes, but none of us want that. There must be some rotation, even if it means playing 45 mins instead of not at all.
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londontractorboy57 added 16:40 - Aug 21 Tretty1 In 1981 Arnold Muhren played in 62 Matches Whats the difference?
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Tretty1 added 17:32 - Aug 21 @londontractorboy57 whilst he was brilliant I'm sure some games he was not firing on all cylinders. I think what PL was also saying is that if other do not keep their hand in (U23 are not the same intensity) then they will not be able to step in if a player were to get injured. Fair point I think. As long as the changes made game to game are not wholesale I really does see the problem, in fact I think its very prudent with a small squad.

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cantona11 added 17:46 - Aug 21 I'm with Robsonwark he clearly is a football man and can see what most people have started to see the Chambers is the worst football player in the club and should be made club captain not team captain as he should never be anywhere near the team all you people that say he's a great captain HOW!!! so what that he puts the youngster up in his house he's here to play football which he can't do !!my nan would be good at putting up the youngsters so as a winning team we should stick with albeit change our RB and I can see it totally from Robsonwark's point of view as I also want the best for my club and that's winning games and not having Captain calamity anywhere near it

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AdyCOYB added 18:53 - Aug 21 Quite a game last night! Posts on here suggest a 4-3-3 formation but judging the type of players that started I thought it was a 4-5-1?? I understand the different formation as sides (no disrespect to them) like Wimbledon will park the bus and therefore a more pass it around approach hoping to draw Wimbledon out and create spaces in between their defence and midfield. Unfortunately this didn't work as both Downes or Dozzell were unable to find these spaces to support Norwood. Also I thought in the first half especially the two wingers were narrow and did not hug the touchlines which have resulted in creating that space! Donacien was the main culprit for the goal and was drawn into the centre leaving their left winger too much space and we got punished for it. Second half was better, Georgiou was a typical winger and made Wimbledon face their own goal by running at them (they were scared!). and should have given him the ball more. I think Woolfenden and Wilson are of making a solid partnership at the back which is good to see, along with Skuse & Downes in the centre mid. Dozzell appeared a shadow of himself perhaps the formation didn't suit him? Still not sure with Norwood and Jackson up front, they don't appear to read each other's game, this was more noticeable against Sunderland? Having said that I can't recall the last time both our strikers have got onto the score sheet!! Can anybody help?

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herfie added 20:12 - Aug 21 @Tetty - the ability for individuals to play twice a week, whilst remaining physically and mentally fresh, comes from the coaching staffs' ability to get the balance right between game, training and rest time right. Although today's game is significantly different from Muhren's time it seems that, despite probably receiving greater protection from refs, and with the benefit of far more sophisticated sports science and medical support, today's players are far more injury prone. The minuscule squad that Sir Bobby worked with played, with some success, with largely the same first 11, both in the league, and all other cup competitions. Injuries were, by today's standards, comparatively few - and every player wanted to play in every match! Having said that, of course we need quality in depth; but playing twice a week with a largely settled, tight-knit, squad should not be an impossible challenge for professional athletes to meet.

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RobsonWark added 23:28 - Aug 21 You should always play with your best 11 players unless anyone gets injured. Playing together week in week out is how the players learn about each other and how say the strikers like to receive the ball...so they like a through ball, do they like it to feet, do they want it over the top to run on to, do they want it with their back to goal, do they want a cross into the box, etc? You only get this understanding by playing with players week in week out. Not by changing the players as they don't know how to play the ball through to the strikers and the strikers don't know what to expect. Like wise for the defenders that are defending...they need to understand what their team mates are going to do,

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Marinersnose added 09:57 - Aug 22 Well a fantastic 3 points and a very exciting final 15 minutes. I along with many other fans was disappointed with the first half inept performance second to almost every ball. I didn't however boo at halftime as to me this is counterproductive. I'm sure that both full backs will be rested after their performances and the centre back pairing deserves a run of games. Downes and Woolfenden pick of the bunch with Skuse not far behind. The Spurs lad looks pacy and changed the game when he came on. He used the ball well and can actually deliver an excellent cross. Lambert should be applauded for dropping Chambers and for trying other formations. It didn't work on this occasion but we have the points so let's move on. Fantastic atmosphere again

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