AFC Wimbledon conceded two late penalties to lose 2-1 at Swindon on Tuesday night as their League Two automatic promotion hopes took a serious dent. Here are Edmund Brack’s talking points from the game. DONS BLOW LEAD FOR THIRD GAME RUNNING After leading in their past two games and falling to late equalisers in both, blowing four points in the process to Barrow and Walsall, Wimbledon went from having all three points in the 88th minute to leaving the County Ground with none as they capitulated at the death. Swindon could have taken the lead on the half-hour mark in the first half when a free-kick routine caught the Dons out and Paul Glatzel attempted to squeeze the ball beyond Owen Goodman. Callum Maycock had Wimbledon’s best chance of the first half five minutes later when he linked up with Omar Bugiel on the edge of the box, but Swindon stopper Connor Ripley was at full stretch to tip his shot around the post. Swindon should have put themselves ahead with five minutes of the first half to play when Kabongo Tshimanga spun Alistair Smith and played through Glatzel, who shot straight at Goodman. The rebound fell to Joe Westley, but he was unable to get a shot beyond the Crystal Palace loanee. Wimbledon took the lead in the 56th minute when Josh Neufville’s effort off the post rebounded to substitute Marcus Browne to score. Joe Lewis gave away an 88th-minute penalty for pulling Harry Smith as he looked to get a shot off. Tshimanga converted and then had the chance to score from the spot again in the 95th minute in a sickening suckerpunch to Wimbledon’s League One automatic hopes as John Joe O’Toole was shown a second yellow card for handballing a shot on the line. Tshimanga sent Goodman the wrong way again as Wimbledon blew a third successive lead and any hopes of the League Two title. HOLLOWAY MAKES TACTICAL SURPRISE Considering he has 13 League Two goals this season, nobody expected Swindon forward Harry Smith to be starting at centre-back. Ian Holloway put his big and physical striker in the centre of a back three to try and combat Bugiel, Wimbledon’s master of the dark arts. Smith, who was of interest to the Dons last summer, used his presence to muscle Matty Stevens off the ball and deny the marksman a shot at goal after breaking beyond the Swindon defence in the 25th minute. The experiment worked well in the first half but it lasted all of 11 minutes into the second period before Smith’s clean sheet was taken away from him. He returned to his natural habitat of centre-forward in the final passage of the game and won the first penalty . STEVENS GAMBLE Eyebrows would have been raised after Dons boss Johnnie Jackson took off top goalscorer Matty Stevens at half-time but the gamble quickly paid off. Stevens struggled to get on the ball and made just nine touches and two passes in the first 45 minutes. January signing Browne put the Dons ahead at the start of the second half when he collected Josh Neufville’s shot off the post, and his effort took a deflection off a Swindon player and into the back of the net. Browne could have doubled the lead in the 74th minute when he headed James Tilley’s cross straight at Ripley. HARROGATE A MUST-WIN The Dons look a million miles away from the side which went 12 League Two outings unbeaten at the start of 2025. They have collected just 10 points from the last 10 games – 20th in the form guide for that period and collecting the same meagre haul as rock bottom Carlisle. Wimbledon had swung between the automatic and play-off spots in recent weeks but dropping seven points in their last three outings has moved them just four points away from eighth-placed Crewe, just outside the play-offs. Port Vale’s 2-0 win at Bradford on Tuesday night means the gap to the automatic spots is up to five. Jackson’s side have not been below fifth in the table since September 14. Wimbledon have to beat Harrogate at Plough Lane tomorrow to make sure they are not sucked into fighting for a final play-off place in a season where the League Two title looked plausible.