Johnstone's Paint Trophy roundup: Bristol City avoid upset against AFC Wimbledon

By Barney Corkhill, Editor | 11 November 2014

Sports Mole rounds up the action from the Football League Trophy as Bristol City, Tranmere, Gillingham and Leyton Orient all progress to the area semi-finals.

Bristol City, Tranmere Rovers, Gillingham and Leyton Orient have all booked their places in the area semi-finals of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy this evening.

League One leaders Bristol City avoided a shock in their match against League Two outfit AFC Wimbledon, with Aaron Wilbraham grabbing a brace in the final 20 minutes to secure their passage into the next round.

City were forced to wait until the 73rd minute to break the deadlock against a stubborn Wimbledon side, with Wilbraham eventually firing his side into the lead from close range.

The striker doubled his side's lead and his personal tally for the night just four minutes later to put the game beyond the visitors, finding the net from the edge of the box for his 11th goal of the season.

George Francomb did pull a goal back for Wimbledon with six minutes remaining, but ultimately it was not enough to see the League Two side force penalties.

Tranmere came from behind to reach the Northern area semi-final, eventually running out 2-1 winners over Bury at Gigg Lane.

The hosts opened the scoring 10 minutes before the break courtesy of a Nathan Cameron strike, but Max Power and Danny Johnson scored within two minutes of each other at the end of the half to give Tranmere the lead the interval.

That was how it stayed for the remainder of the match as the hosts failed to draw back level in the second half.

Gillingham also recovered from a one-goal deficit to progress at Crawley Town's expense, despite having to play the final half-hour with just 10 men.

Crawley were awarded a penalty with a little over 20 minutes played when Jake Hessenthaler brought down Gwion Edwards inside the area, allowing Izale McLeod to break the deadlock from the spot.

Gillingham's task got even harder shortly after the hour mark when Joe Martin was shown a red card for pushing McLeod in the face, but they levelled things up just minutes later as Jermaine McGlashan fired home.

The win came in unorthodox fashion as Doug Loft's cross/shot deceived Jamie Ashdown in the Crawley goal, bouncing up and into the top corner with just three minutes remaining.

Leyton Orient were the most comfortable winners of the night, easing to a 2-0 victory over Northampton Town

Orient took a deserved lead shortly before the half-hour mark as Jay Simpson raced onto a through-ball and slotted his effort coolly past the keeper.

The win was wrapped up in the 90th minute as Chris Dagnall played the ball in for Marvin Bartley, who placed his effort into the bottom corner.

Results in full: Bristol City 2-1 AFC Wimbledon, Bury 1-2 Tranmere Rovers, Crawley Town 1-2 Gillingham, Leyton Orient 2-0 Northampton Town