Awford slams Portsmouth players

Andy Awford admitted he "caned his players" after a 2-0 loss Wimbldeon which increases the pressure on the Portsmouth manager.

Goals from Frankie Sutherland and Matt Tubbs sealed a comfortable victory against a hapless Pompey side who have collected just one point from their last four games, and have now won once in their last seven. Pompey, who finished the game with 10 men when Dan Butler was dismissed, slumbered twice at first-half set pieces to gift the Dons goals and Awford described his side's defending as "unacceptable". The Pompey boss said: "We didn't start the game with the right attitude and we switched off at two set pieces and you can't afford to do that. "It's nothing to do with shape or formations, it was lack of concentration and that is nowhere near acceptable and I let them know it. I caned the players after the game. "When things are going well, they are a good set of players, but when things are going against them they are not a good team. "But it's also my job to pick them up again for our next game at Luton." Dons boss Neal Ardley praised his side's execution of their game plan, and the way they started the game in contrast to Pompey. He said: "We were good from the word go. We caused them problems by changing our shape. We worked on this all week and the players carried out the plan to perfection. "The back four threw their bodies into the line of fire, and the midfield did a lot of mucky work, and we had the pace and movement of Matt Tubbs up front." Pompey nodded off twice at first-half set pieces to hand Wimbledon the advantage. They backed off on nine minutes to allow Callum Kennedy to tap the ball to Sutherland, who made ground before curling a delicious right-foot shot past Paul Jones from 23 yards. Pompey's slumbering defenders switched off completely on 19 minutes when Tubbs was fouled on the halfway line. But the hosts' skipper Barry Fuller was alert to the possibilities when he slotted a ball through the inside-right channel for Tubbs to gather and finish from a tight angle. Pompey striker Ryan Taylor had struck a post from a tight angle, but It took Pompey 35 minutes to muster their first shot on target, although Rickie Holmes' tame effort provided no problem for James Shea and in first-half injury-time Taylor's near-post toe-poke brought a sharp save from the keeper. Nigel Atangana's half-time introduction perked Pompey up, but for all their pressure they failed to extend Shea and their hopes of mounting a late rally were dented when Butler's late challenge on George Francomb earned the Pompey defender a second yellow card.