AFC Wimbledon and Johnnie Jackson have to avoid 2016 play-off repeat | OneFootball

The Dons take a tight lead into their second leg with Notts County, but will want to avoid repeating parts of their 2016 clash with Accrington Stanley

AFC Wimbledon secured a 1-0 win in the first leg of their play-off semi-final tie against Notts County, and in doing so have begun a repetition of events from their last play-off run in 2016.

In that year's play-offs, the Dons secured a 1-0 win in their first leg at home to take away to Accrington Stanley in the second, but soon let their lead slip only to then make a great comeback and eventually win in extra time.

And while the set-up of the two legs this time around is switched, with Wimbledon set to play at home, there are still some parts of that pulsating game back in 2016 that they will want to avoid this time round.

AFC Wimbledon, Johnnie Jackson will want to avoid needing a comeback

While there is perhaps no better drama than completing a comeback in football, for the team, and supporters too, the last thing the Dons will want to do is play the game in such a way that they will require a comeback, and a swift one too.

Back in 2016, the Dons were very quickly pegged back to a level score on aggregate when a foul on Scott Brown saw current Sheffield Wednesday star Josh Windass slot home a cool penalty.

And then just as the second half was springing into life, former Cambridge winger Piero Mingoia blasted home a screamer to turn the tie in Stanley's favour.

All while this had been going on, the Dons had ultimately not created many notable chances, and so had to dig deep to mount any sort of charge to put the score right again.

And they did by firstly equalising through an Adebayo Akinfenwa header, and then through a calm finish from Lyle Taylor later on in the tie.

But turning back to modern day, not too many Wimbledon fans fancy this current side to mount such a spirited comeback. When this season's team has gone one or two goals down, which has not been too often, in all fairness, there has not been much fightback, barring the spectacular 2-2 draw ironically against Accrington this season.

Now this could be down to the more defence-first mindset that Johnnie Jackson has instilled in them, or a possible lack of belief in the available attackers, but whatever has caused this rare problem this season, having to go and find the spark to bring about a comeback, especially in a play-off semi-final when a visit to Wembley is on the cards could be just too much pressure.

It is fair to say that pressure did seem to get the better of Johnnie Jackson's squad when the likely prospect of finishing the league season in the automatic positions soon turned into the need for a final day victory at Grimsby Town to secure their spot in the play-offs, so there has to be hope that the Dons do not allow themselves to get into such a position where they will be searching for a miracle this time around.

Extra time is the last thing that AFC Wimbledon and Johnnie Jackson need to happen

The other factor of 2016's play-off semi-final second leg that will want to be avoided by modern-day Wimbledon is the need for extra time. After Akinfenwa's brilliant header in normal time, the tie ticked into extra time with the scores level, and it took until the 104th minute for Lyle Taylor to find the net as described above.

And while this did not create too many adverse affects on the 2016 squad, it more than likely wore down a lot of fitness in the squad, and certainly increased the likelihood of injuries.

There were two changes made in 2016's final for Wimbledon, with young defender Ryan Sweeney getting the nod ahead of Millwall legend Paul Robinson, who had been an instrumental figure in the dressing room, and Connor Smith getting in ahead of Sean Rigg in wide midfield.

And while the reason behind these changes is not really known, there can be a presumption that fitness likely played a factor alongside some possible tactical switches wanting to be made by the then-management team led by Neal Ardley.

But switching back to the modern day, it is perhaps more prevalent this time around that Wimbledon avoid having to win the tie the long way round.

At various points this campaign, the Dons have had multiple key men missing thanks to injury and fitness issues, and if any of those old issues, or even new ones, were to arise ahead of a potential final thanks to having to play an extra 30 minutes, then Johnnie Jackson's men will only have themselves to blame.

And with the squad this time around possibly lacking quality in some areas more than that of the 2016 squad, there certainly will not be a reliable replacement in the squad that would guarantee the same level of performance as that of the man they may be replacing.

Of course, all eyes will just have to wait and see what comes from Saturday as with the play-offs usually comes unforeseen drama, but at the very least, any lesson that can be learned from that 2016 play-off run really should be listened too, before things go from very positive, to very negative.