ON an afternoon which ended up becoming famous for a set of discarded dentures, Accrington Stanley weren’t toothless in attack as they beat AFC Wimbledon to record their first home victory of the season.

The Reds produced their best football of the campaign so far and should have been far more comfortable than they were in the second half as the Dons came back to 2-1.

John Coleman changed his central midfield for the game, with Seamus Conneely and Scott Brown dropping out, but the reshuffle didn’t prevent home side flying out of the blocks.

They might have been in front inside a minute when Jordan Clark cut in from the right and his left foot shot was too much for Wimbledon keeper Joe McDonnell to handle. Offrande Zanzala closed in on the rebound only to hit the deck and see his appeals for a penalty waved away.

Unlike in previous games though the home fans didn’t have to be patient for long. They were in front in the sixth minute when Sam Finley played the ball to Billy Kee on the edge of the D and the striker picked out the bottom left corner for his fourth goal of the season.

The visitors did test Connor Ripley in response, with Mitchell Pinnock and Andy Barcham having chances, but in the main the action was at McDonnell’s end of the pitch.

Kee might have had a second when he diverted a Sean McConville cross straight at the keeper before McDonnell saved superbly with his legs from McConville after the winger had latched onto Daniel Barlaser’s pass and Finley fired over after stealing the ball from Tom Soares.

For half an hour Stanley were rampant but couldn’t find more goals and inevitable the Dons began to find a foothold, with Joe Pigott shooting straight at Ripley before the break.

After the restart the visitors were in the ascendancy, with Liam Trotter seeing a shot blocked and James Hanson volleying over after good build up play.

But just as the hosts seemed to be on defensive duties they found another goal. Full back Nick Anderton did well to win a corner, Wimbledon failed to clear it well enough and the ball found its way to the initial taker McConville whose shot looped up off a defender, over McDonnell and into the net to make it 2-0.

The cushion wasn’t to last long though as half time sub Scott Wagstaff burst into the box before dispatching the ball past Ripley into the right side of the net to make it 2-1.

Now it was all to play for, with Ripley turning a strike from Jake Jervis over and saving from Pigott and McConville driving a free kick into the wall and Brown miscuing wide for Stanley.

Within the space of a few minutes Coleman’s side could have been pegged back and then back two in front as first Ripley had to parry from Jervis from a tight angle before Reds sub Connor Hall picked out Kee inside the box only for his daisy cutter to fly the wrong side of the post and then Hall himself was denied by McDonnell.

Deep into stoppage time Neal Ardley’s side thought they had equalised. Ripley missed his punch and Pigott turned the ball goalward only for Mark Hughes to save the day with a superb diving header on the line.

The club’s post match tweet about lost false teeth then went viral. Though the performance will get far less exposure it was a display worthy of plenty of attention.