Johnnie Jackson: Wimbledon’s draw at Barnsley was a great advert for League One

AFC Wimbledon manager Johnnie Jackson believed his side’s 3-3 draw with Barnsley was an excellent advert for League One football.

Omar Bugiel struck twice in three minutes in the first half to cancel out goals from David McGoldrick and Tom Bradshaw before Marcus Browne thought he had clinched maximum points for the Dons, only for Scott Banks to level matters late on.

Jackson said: “If you’d have offered me a point 20 minutes into the game, I’m taking it – and probably again in the 90th minute.

“We obviously got ourselves in front in that second half and you’re hoping that we might take all three.

“But I think we have to respect the game of football that we were just in.”

McGoldrick’s opener – his eighth league goal of the season – was largely down to the fantastic work of Reyes Cleary.

After successfully taking on two Wimbledon defenders, he played the ball across goal for McGoldrick to open the scoring and it took just four minutes for Barnsley to double their lead.

Bradshaw – who returned to the Reds in January, almost eight years after leaving the club – scored his first goal at Oakwell since 2018, thanks to some more fantastic work by Cleary.

It was Cleary’s 10th assist in the league this season as he tops the playmaker charts in the division.

But the Dons came back into it as Bugiel scored his first goal since October to halve the deficit and – two minutes later -he headed in a James Tilley cross to level the scores.

Barnsley had chances to take the lead in the second half but it was Wimbledon’s Browne who put the Dons in front after 74 minutes as he tapped into an empty net to send the away end wild.

But Banks levelled in the 87th minute, firing home from close range to rescue a point for the Reds.

Jackson added: “It was an unbelievable game of football.

“There’s always a bit of me that’s going to be disappointed that we haven’t taken all three (points), having gotten the lead – but I think I have to be realistic about what I saw today.

“We could have lost that game, we could have won it and we could have drawn it.”

Barnsley boss Conor Hourihane was disappointed with his side’s defensive work but praised their attacking play.

He said: “It was another rollercoaster game that we were always involved in.

“We started the game really well and then gave two poor goals away.

“Then they went 3-2 up off the back of another poor goal.

“And then we ended up getting a draw out of it, which is bizarre thinking about just getting a draw after the first 20-odd minutes or so.”