Winger back in the frame for Saturday
Neal Ardley has confirmed that George Francomb is back in contention for a return against York City on Saturday.
The winger (pictured), who has made 35 appearances in all competitions this season, has been out with a hamstring injury since the defeat at Shrewsbury last month. However, Francomb returned to full training earlier this week and his creativity offers a useful option as the Dons aim to get back among the goals.
On loan defender Dave Winfield, who had arguably his best game in a Dons shirt on Tuesday, is ruled out though with Saturday’s game being against his parent club.
Speaking during an interview for Dons Player, Neal Ardley said: “George has trained all week. He needed to get a good week of training under his belt to come back into the reckoning so we purposefully left him out on Tuesday. George has had that now so he is back in contention for selection should there be no problems.
“Dave is not allowed to play against his parent club and we knew that when we signed him. He can be very pleased though with his performance on Tuesday night that’s for sure.”
Saturday’s game at home to York marks the end of a hectic schedule of nine games in 36 days, a period that Wimbledon’s management team had planned meticulously in advance. It’s been a creditable run with the Dons having lost twice in eight games, but Wimbledon have not scored in three matches and Neal Ardley says everyone is working hard to change that statistic.
“It’s certainly not been for the want of trying,” said Neal. “I looked at the first half against Hartlepool and Jake Reeves had a couple of great moments. With the first one he made a great run to get on the end of Bayo’s cut-back but his shot actually hit Alfie Potter. They are the moments that can affect you. We’ve had a couple of penalty shouts, Craig Tanner has had a couple of shots deflected wide and Deji Oshilaja hit the crossbar on Saturday. We have been getting into good positions. We have to keep going and believe that it will turn.
“It’s been a slog and that’s why we prepared so well for it. We have tried to freshen the team up without making drastic changes. We have one more to go in this spell and we will do our best. At this stage of the season there are no easy games. York City are down there and people will think we should win this one, but they are in decent form.
“Two years ago when we were scrapping for our lives we were the coupon-busters on a few occasions. We have to make sure we put in a high level of performance and see what happens at the end of it. It’s the last game of nine matches that we had prepared well for. We have a week without a game before we go again with Exeter and Mansfield away.”
An eight-minute video interview with Neal Ardley will be on Dons Player later this afternoon.
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