Dons draw respite after McAllister injury

Coventry City's fading Nation-wide First Division play-off challenge, which received a severe jolt from a 5-1 collapse at Sheffield Wednesday in midweek, took an even harsher blow at Highfield Road when their pivotal player-manager, Gary McAllister, was taken off on a stretcher with ankle-ligament damage during the 2-2 draw with Wimbledon.

"A lot of people might question whether someone of Gary's age [37] can come back and continue playing football at this level," his assistant, Eric Black, said. "But if anyone can, Gary can. I feared the worst when he went down because he's not the type to go down for nothing. We'll assess how bad the injury is over the course of the next few days."

It was a bad day for Coventry as they lost Youssef Chippo (knee), Mo Konjic (broken wrist) and a 2-1 lead. But the Dons are in fine form, having beaten Portsmouth, the leaders, on Tuesday and third-placed Reading last Saturday, and they took the lead when David Connolly was given too much time and duly curled in a left-foot shot from 25 yards after 12 minutes.

McAllister had sat out the two previous matches but recalled himself to the starting line-up after the Hillsborough débâcle, and it was his corner that John Eustace headed in nine minutes later. Julian Joachim put Coventry ahead in the 74th minute but Neil Shipperley levelled two minutes later. The home side ended with 10 men when Gary McSheffrey was sent off in injury time after his second yellow card.

The Dons' manager, Stuart Murdoch, was disappointed that his side's "gung-ho attitude" had been undermined by "sloppy marking at the corner which got them their first. And we should have cut out a long ball for the second".

The lingering relegation fears of Bradford City were all but extinguished when they recovered from seeing Noel Whelan, on loan from Middlesbrough, put Crystal Palace ahead after 24 minutes at Valley Parade. "The pitch was like a paddy field," the Bantams' manager, Nicky Law, said. "We tried to play too much football in the first half. There were too many short passes."

A more direct game in the second half brought a 70th-minute equaliser for Peter Atherton and, three minutes later, the winner from 17-year-old midfielder Simon Francis, his first first-team goal. It stayed 2-1.

Palace's south London neighbours, Millwall, moved above them when they won 2-1 at Walsall. Neil Harris and Paul Ifill scored in the space of three second-half minutes for the Lions; Junior pulled one back for the Saddlers with five minutes left.

"I don't think Walsall could get the ball today," Mark McGhee, the Millwall manager, said. His opposite number, Colin Lee, was inclined to agree. Had the random drugs test on two of his players after the match revealed anything? "Not unless they've been taking sleeping tablets," Lee said.

In the Second Division, the leaders, Wigan, were held to a 1-1 draw at Peterborough while Crewe, second, and Cardiff, third, lost to Tranmere and Notts County respectively. Queen's Park Rangers, sixth, beat Bristol City, who slip to fifth. Oldham beat Colchester 2-0 to go fourth. In the Third, Bournemouth beat Darlington 2-0 to go into the automatic promotion places.

In Scotland, Hearts kept their grip on third place in the Premier, and on a Uefa Cup place, when they drew 1-1 at Livingston and fourth-placed Kilmarnock were also held to a draw, 2-2 at Dundee. Motherwell, one off the bottom, lost 1-0 at home to Aberdeen, who are now six points clear of danger.