AFC Wimbledon’s double penalty hero Jake Reeves saluted keeper Alex Bass after his save kept the scores level at 2-2 in Saturday’s 4-2 win over Notts County.
The Dons led 2-0 at the break after Reeves’ successful first conversion from the spot was added to by Ali Al-Hamadi’s 41st minute strike.
Notts County were back on terms midway through the second-half thanks to two goals in the space of five minutes from Macauley Longstaff and Aaron Nemane.
Only the quick-thinking of Bass kept out Bostock’s header in what proved to be a game-defining moment to prevent the visitors going in front for the first time.
Reeves then went on to score his second penalty of the afternoon against his old club on 86 minutes before Al-Hamadi also grabbed a brace in stoppage time to wrap up victory.
The result moves the Dons within a point of the play-offs, but Reeves was the first to admit things could have turned out very differently but for Bass.
He told AFC Wimbledon’s YouTube channel: “It was a huge save, the one in the second half was massive at that point of the game.
“I think it was at 2-2 at the time.
“That’s what goalkeepers are there for – you need a good goalkeeper to do anything, particularly in this league, because other teams have their threats.
“Bass has stood up all season, I think he’s been brilliant.”
Reeves kept his cool from 12 yards on each occasion to twice put Wimbledon ahead against the team he represented 41 times three seasons ago.
Then came a move to Stevenage, where the midfielder revealed he honed his spot-kick skills, something the Dons certainly benefited from at the weekend.
He explained: “I’ve had a few penalties over the years.
“I‘ve changed techniques, changed styles, found a good rhythm – at Stevenage in particular – and I’ve stuck with it.
“With the second one, I’ve played with their goalkeeper, Sam Slocombe.
“I thought he would think I was going to be very, very confident in myself to put it in the same area, so I guessed that he was going to dive.”
Reeves added: “It’s always a guess. It’s a gamble.
“I thought do the same routine, do the same technique, but I know where I’m going, and I think he’ll dive.
“Luckily he did on this occasion.
“If you give people penalties in training, they’ll score all the time because there’s no pressure.
“It’s completely different, you can’t recreate that pressure.
“The only time you can do that is in games, the idea is to try and alleviate that pressure from yourself as much as possible.”
Wimbledon travel to Gillingham on Tuesday, kick-off 7.45pm.
