Town’s game at AFC Wimbledon remains 0-0 at half-time.
Tyreeq Bakinson was handed his full debut as Blues boss Kieran McKenna made four changes.
Bakinson came in at the centre midfield for suspended captain Samy Morsy alongside Tom Carroll with Lee Evans again absent having suffered a groin niggle in the warm-up on Saturday. George Edmundson skippered in Morsy’s absence.
Up front, Macauley Bonne dropped to the bench after 22 successive league starts with James Norwood returning to the XI.
Bersant Celina and Conor Chaplin were also among the subs having started and impressed at the weekend, while Kayden Jackson returned alongside Norwood for his first start since the 3-0 loss at Northampton in April with Sone Aluko in the number 10 role.
Former Wimbledon striker Joe Pigott was on the Blues’ bench, while Tomas Holy was the sub keeper with Vaclav Hladky again not in the squad.
Paul Osew blazed an early shot well over for the home side, who started on the front foot with the Blues, wearing their white and black away kit, not able to make any headway into the Dons’ half.
However, as the game moved towards the 15-minute mark, Town began to see more of the ball and begin to press and probe the Wimbledon backline with Jackson often drifting to wide on the left and having balls played ahead of him to chase.
Wes Burns saw a cross cut out from the right, then Kane Vincent-Young stumbled over the ball in a dangerous position on the left of the box.
In the 22nd minute, with Town now well in control of the game, Burns and Janoi Donacien exchanged passes on the right before the Welshman crossed for Norwood, who scuff to home keeper Nik Tzanev.
Two minutes later, Jackson sent over a dangerous low ball from the left which Nesta Guinness-Walker turned behind at the far post.
Town kept up the pressure, Donacien winning a corner with a cross from the right, then Bakinson hit a shot which was deflected behind for a flag-kick on the other side.
On 36, Bakinson, playing ahead of the deeper-lying Carroll in the centre of midfield, clipped a ball forward to Norwood to chase and the striker managed to get in a cross which was put behind.
Town continued to dominate possession and a minute later, Jackson crossed from the left to Bakinson who was unable to get enough on it at the far post under pressure.
In the 39th minute dedicated Blues pressing saw Wimbledon lose possession in their own half and eventually, after good work from Donacien and Aluko, Burns’s cross-shot was palmed behind by Tzanev.
Wimbledon hit the post in the 42nd minute through Ethan Chislett after a spell of sloppy play by the Blues but referee Lee Swabey had already called play back for a foul.
Swabey blew his whistle to end the half with the scoreboard showing that the half had another 30 seconds of normal time to play let alone anything added on for stoppages, much to the surprise of the players and annoyance of the crowd.
The referee pointed to his watch indicating that the 45 minutes was up on that regardless of whether the scoreboard said otherwise.
Wimbledon had started brightly but the Blues had got themselves on top and dominating the ball by the quarter-hour mark.
However, they were never at their most fluid and were unable to create a clear-cut chance and as at Bolton recently, became sloppy in the minutes up to the break, while rarely looking under any threat at the other end.
AFC Wimbledon: Tzanev, Csoka, Marsh, Assal, Chislett, Rudoni, Guinness-Walker, McCormick, Heneghan (c), Osew, Cosgrave. Subs: Oualah, Nightingale, Alexander, Hartigan, Mebude, Ablade, Kalinauskas.
Town: Walton, Donacien, Woolfenden, Edmundson (c), Burns, Bakinson, Carroll, Aluko, Vincent-Young, Norwood, Jackson. Subs: Holy, Burgess, Celina, Edwards, Chaplin, Bonne, Pigott. Referee: Lee Swabey (Devon). Att: 8,117 (Town: 1,200).