This was not only a first home win of the season, but the first since March, so it will be a real monkey off the backs of Neal Ardley and the boys.

Having got a first away win of the year at Crawley first time out on their travels this season and another good point at Carlisle, if Dons can re-establish the sort of fortress at Kingsmeadow they had for much of the last campaign then 60+ points is a real possibility.

Read more: Neal Ardley delights in AFC Wimbledon's maiden home victory over Exeter and pays tribute to super-subs.

Competition among the strikers is intensifying

The performances of Lyle Taylor and Adebayo Azeez from off the bench were what won this game and the impact they had can only be good for Ardley's attacking options.

Azeez in particular was pushed down the pecking order when Taylor and Tom Elliott arrived over the summer, but he followed up goals for the U21s in midweek with the winning header here. It would seem rather than accepting his seeming place in the order of things he is rising to the challenge.

Taylor too was a revelation. Angry at not getting a start he produced the perfect response with a cameo full of not only pace, but power.

Azeez's header for the winner was good, but Taylor's passion to win the ball in the first place and his delicious cross created the opportunity.

A changing of the striking guard perhaps

Still the Beast? AFC Wimbledon's Adebayo Akinfenwa

The super-subs' performances were in stark contrast to Adebayo Akinfenwa who not for the first time this season looked off the pace.

The man who led the line so gallantly last season striking fear into opponents looks short of fitness and anything but 'The Beast' just now.

One first half header off the line apart he was largely anonymous - not the sort of performance he would have been looking for having got a starting shirt back at Taylor's expense.

Taylor will have every right to be angry if the roles are not reversed again for either Tuesday's cup tie with Plymouth or next Saturday's league trip to Mansfield.

The 4-4-2 looks set to stay

Jon Meades has brought a calming presence to the left-back role meaning the experiment with 3-4-3 appears set to be shelved for now.

That of course intensifies the battle for striking positions all the more - watch this space.

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