ON the day Billy Kee said his goodbyes to the Stanley faithful, Accrington Stanley grabbed their first win since December with a 2-1 victory over fellow League One strugglers AFC Wimbledon.

First half goals from Jordan Clark and Dion Charles put the Reds in a healthy lead going into the break.

Joe Piggott halved the deficit in the second period after Joe Pritchard was shown a second yellow for apparent simulation.

Opening 10 minutes into the game saw both sides tentatively feeling their way into what was such an important match for both.

Neither side was able to create an opening in the early stages, with Stanley having much of the ball.

Clark looked lively, but tried to do too much when he was on the ball and was well marshalled by the Wimbledon backline.

Having said that, it was that man Clark who broke the dead lock with a first time finish inside the box.

Sadou Diallo’s pass almost didn’t make it to Joe Maguire, who came in for the injured Jerome Opoku, but the left back got there first to touch it to Pritchard.

His fantastic cross was met by Clark who was running in from the right side.

It was almost a repeat of the first goal as Pritchard burst forward, whipped a ball across the face of goal, but Clark’s shot was blocked this time.

The ball is put back into the box and Charles produced a sublime overhead kick that looped over Joe Day in goal to double Stanley’s advantage just 20 minutes into the first half.

Stanley almost made it three before half time as Charles burst through, but his strike could only find Day in the Wimbledon goal.

The two goal lead gave Stanley confidence to go forward and push for more goals to kill the game off at the earliest of chances.

They didn’t want a repeat of past matches where they had let the three points slip when being in the lead.

Five minutes into the second half and Pritchard had a fine effort with a volley from around 30-yards out.

That surely would have been goal of the season had that flown into the top corner.

In a potential game changing decision, Pritchard went down under challenge in the box, the referee blew his whistle and everyone inside the Wham Stadium expected him to point to the spot.

Instead, Pritchard was shown a second booking for a dive and sent for an early shower.

Referee James Oldham did not make any friends at the Wham Stadium for that decision.

An hour into the game and the Reds were not playing like a team who had a man less as they were confidently playing the ball around in midfield looking for that all important goal to kill the game off.

Stanley coped with Pritchard’s sending off by moving Diallo out to the left and having Seamus Conneely in the middle with Ben Barclay while Charles harried the Wimbledon defence on his own.

It was game on with 20 minutes left to play as Joe Piggott headed beyond Joe Bursik to half 10-man Stanley’s two goal lead.

Offrande Zanzala was brought on off the bench and should have secured all three points late on, but he put his effort wide.

Stanley XI: Bursik, Johnson, Sykes, Hughes, Maguire, Clark, Conneely, Barclay, Diallo, Pritchard, Charles

Subs: Savin, Rodgers, De Sousa, Zanzala, Alese, Perrit, Kaba Sherif

Wimbledon XI: Day, O’Neill, Thomas, Wagstaff, Hartigan, Pinnock, Rudoni, Sorensen, Reilly, Pigott, Wordsworth

Subs: Trott, McDonald, Roscrow, Guinness-Walker, McLoughlin, Wood, Osew