Captain points the way forward from set-pieces
A tip from the captain culminated in Jon Meades emerging as a goal hero once again for AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.
Meades headed home his second goal in successive games after failing to score in his previous 25 appearances – and Barry Fuller (pictured) claimed a part in it!
“Jon scored a similar goal in training yesterday (Friday),” revealed Fuller during an interview with Dons Player after the game. “Just before it I said ‘if you get across the front from set-pieces you will score goals’. He scored in training and then did it in the match. We look good from set-pieces now. I think at the start of the season we were not aggressive enough attacking the ball, but now we are showing we are hard to deal with at that end.”
Fuller believes Wimbledon can maintain the momentum of five matches unbeaten – three of those wins – if the team continue to play at a high tempo.
“We just need to keep the tempo we have been playing at in the last five games,” added Fuller. “We believe we are fitter than anyone and we can out-run teams. That is showing in our performances. In the first-half (against Mansfield) it was not going our way, but we dug in and stayed in the game. They had a couple of chances at 1-0, but we managed to stay in it.
“We had not played with enough tempo or quality, but we gave ourselves a great chance to take the game to them in the second-half and we did that. We just have to keep rolling our sleeves up. It’s not going to be pretty with some of the pitches at this time of year and the weather, but we believe we have characters in the squad and we can be ready for any game coming up.
“It shows how good the squad is because we managed without George Francomb and Jake Reeves. They are good players and big parts of the team. Both of them have been brilliant all season and it was a blow that they were missing, but the manager has built a good squad here. Whoever comes in has shown they are capable of playing in the team.”
to access the exclusive content.Dons PlayerInterviews with Barry Fuller, Lyle Taylor, Karleigh Osborne and Neal Ardley featured on Dons Player over the weekend, along with extended match highlights. Access to the channel is just £4.49 a month. Click on