Murdoch holds hope of Wimbledon promotion

Lindsay Harrison
Thursday 06 March 2003 01:00 GMT
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Stuart Murdoch, the Wimbledon manager, still has an eye on the play-offs after seeing his side beat the Nationwide League First Division leaders, Portsmouth, 2-1 at Selhurst Park on Tuesday night.

The Dons trailed to a Paul Merson goal, but Patrick Agyemang equalised and Gareth Ainsworth hit the 88th-minute winner. Murdoch said of the Dons' play-off chase: "It's still possible. We said at the beginning of March that we had nine games for the play-offs – and we've won the first two of them."

Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, said: "You're not going to win every game. Five more wins should be enough, but we've got to keep concentrating."

Micky Adams' Leicester side should have cut Portsmouth's lead to one point on Tuesday, but they were held to a 0-0 draw at Valley Parade by a Bradford side battling against relegation. Adams said: "Their keeper made some great saves, while mine has not had hardly anything to do all night. But we've got 70 points from 35 games, which is where we want to be."

Nottingham Forest won 4-1 at Gillingham to go third. Forest extended their unbeaten league run, repeating the scoreline they achieved in the corresponding game at the City Ground back in September. Darren Huckerby scored two first-half goals while Marlon Harewood and John Thompson made the game safe before a late consolation from Rod Wallace.

Sheffield United are fourth after a 4-1 win at Grimsby. The Blades now face an FA Cup quarter-final but their manager, Neil Warnock, said: "We've got Leeds on Sunday but I'm not bothered about that. Even if we lose every game between now and the end of the season it will still have been a good one for us."

By contrast, his Grimsby counterpart, Paul Groves, knows his side faces an uphill task to avoid relegation. "We have given ourselves a lot to do and we have to get back on the training ground and put some work in on our defending," he said.

Dean Windass, Steve Kabba and Rob Kozluk put the Blades 3-0 up. Stuart Campbell pulled one back but Grimsby had Alan Pouton sent off for a second bookable offence, and Michael Brown guaranteed the points for the Blades.

A close-range shot from Burnley's Ian Moore looked as though it would condemn Millwall to their sixth successive defeat but, with seven minutes left, the Republic of Ireland striker Richard Sadlier equalised for the Lions.

Graham Alexander netted a 19th-minute penalty as Preston beat Watford 1-0 at Vicarage Road. The home side were reduced to 10 men in the first half when Sean Dyche body-checked the Preston goalkeeper, Jonathan Gould, and was sent off.

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