Dons go down to Johnson double

Nottingham Forest 2 Wimbledon

David Johnson continued his rich vein of form as his brace gave Nottingham Forest a comfortable victory at the City Ground last night to leave Wimbledon still searching for their first away win of the First Division season.

A delightful lob after 16 minutes and a deft header just before the break doubled his goal tally for the season and earned Paul Hart's men three well-deserved points.

Forest enjoyed the majority of early possession and deservedly took the lead courtesy of Johnson. A long ball from Riccardo Scimeca found Johnson, who allowed it to bounce twice before lobbing it past the on-rushing Kelvin Davis from 18 yards.

After that, Wimbledon's Joel McAnuff began to influence the match and nearly equalised with a free-kick. However, on the stroke of half-time, Johnson gave Forest breathing space with his second goal of the game. Following the break, Wayne Gray and Neil Shipperley were booked as the Dons were frustrated by some stout defending. Forest could have added a third when a Scimeca long-range free-kick just went wide after Damien Francis fouled Harewood.

Wimbledon's substitute Gareth Ainsworth came close late on with a powerful effort and though the Dons finished the stronger the Forest backline easily absorbed the pressure as they cruised to a comfortable win.

Nottingham Forest: Ward, Louis-Jean, Walker, Hjelde, Brennan, Lester (Jess, 80), Scimeca, Williams, Prutton, Johnson, Harewood. Substitutes not used: Roche (gk), Bopp, Reid, Doig.

Wimbledon: Davis, Hawkins, Willmott, Williams, Darlington, McAnuff, Francis, Gray, Karlsson (Ainsworth, 70), Shipperley (Nowland, 77), Andersen. Substitutes not used: Heald (gk), Tapp, Nowland, Gier.

Referee: M Cooper (West Midlands).