Honours finished even after the proverbial game of two halves at Kingsmeadow.

Battered in the first half, an understrength Dons team weakened by injuries and suspensions clawed their way back after the break through substitute Tom Elliott’s header and Dean Parrett’s penalty, only to see two points go a-begging in stoppage time.

Here’s our thoughts on a topsy-turvy afternoon south of the river.

Home & Away

AFC were 20th in the home form table and Fleetwood 19th in the away standings before kick-off and this game probably showed why on both counts.

Dons were outplayed in a first half when they weren’t at the races, whereas Fleetwood, beaten 2-1 six times on the road this season were not the same prospect after the break when the home side squandered several chances to seal victory before conceding late on.

The Curse of stoppage-time strikes again

The instances of Dons conceding in stoppage-time are starting to pile up. Precious points have been lost on the road at Rochdale and Coventry, while a point was binned in added in added on time at home to Bradford only last month.

Again, here they were undone by a set-piece with victory in sight making it seven points gone astray beyond the 90-minute mark. A sign of mental fragility?

Tom Elliott to the rescue

Tom Elliott

The fans' favourite was a huge presence after rising from the bench immediately after half-time, scoring one, winning the penalty for the other and playing Dominic Poleon through for what should have been the killer third.

His big frame means he takes longer to recover from games than some of his teammates, so isn’t considered for three starts in a week, but that’s seven for the campaign now for a man becoming pivotal to the AFC Wimbledon story.

Both goals conceded from set pieces

Fleetwood had some big strong physical presences, but Dons will need to look at the video as both visiting scorers got free headers. Something to work on in training perhaps.

A Good point or not?

The late goal conceded will leave a bad taste in the mouth of some Dons fans tonight. Nevertheless, given Barry Fuller, Jon Meades, Darius Charles, Andy Barcham and Lyle Taylor were all ruled out for one reason or another Neal Ardley’s men got a point with resources as stretched as they have been all season.

And let’s not forget that is just two league defeats in 17 since losing the first three of the campaign.