AFC Wimbledon's survival hopes suffered a setback as they slipped to a narrow defeat to fellow strugglers Barnet.

The Dons will have felt they deserved at least a point at Kingsmeadow but a smash-and-grab win from Edgar Davids' side saw them steal all three late on.

Neal Ardley went for pace in attack as he replaced Luke Moore and Gary Alexander with on-loan Cardiff City forward Jesse Darko and former Bluebird Kevin Sainte-Luce.

Stacy Long took the place of Rashid Yussuff in midfield while Will Antwi returned to the centre of the Wimbledon defence in the last of four changes to the side that lost at Rotherham on Friday.

Within minutes of the kick-off, the Kingsmeadow crowd were demanding a penalty as Barnet number eight Mark Byrne appeared to handle a testing Chris Hussey cross.

It was all action in the opening moments and Bees defender Dave Stephens almost gifted the Dons the lead as his sliced clearance was a whisker away from beating his keeper Graham Stack.

The chances dried up for both sides before Jack Midson and Jon Nurse tried their luck at either end, however the deadlock remained unbroken.

Sainte-Luce, a real bundle of energy on the right flank for Wimbledon, forced a good save at the start of the second-half from following a mistake at the back from Tom Flanagan.

Playing Darko as a lone frontman had left the youngster isolated up top and Ardley swapped him for Alexander as time started slip away, Moore soon joining him from the bench.

Hussey thought he'd found the breakthrough as he rifled home a beautiful half-volley from the edge of the area but play was called back for a foul-throw to frustrate the sell-out crowd.

The Dons full-back then stood over a free-kick, whipping in an inviting cross from the right that Midson really should have stuck away from six-yards out.

Hussey had put in a great shift on the left of the Wimbledon but made a fatal error to see the points head back to Barnet.

He mis-controlled a tame looking Bees pass and that allowed substitute Keanu Marsh-Brown to nip in and grab the winner with just five minutes remaining.

Alexander thought he had snatched a point at the death but his header was kept out by a brilliant stop from Stack on the line.

DONS: Sullivan, Mitchel-King, Hussey, Long (L Moore), Bennett, Antwi, Meades, Pell, Midson, Darko (Alexander), Sainte-Luce (Strutton).

Subs (not used): Jaimez-Ruiz, Balkestein, Yussuff, Youga.

Attendance: 4,696.

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