Manager's Thursday update ahead of Newport match
Neal Ardley said he’s aiming to freshen up his side by making changes for the game against Newport County AFC on Saturday.
However, the Dons boss will take a close look at his options tomorrow before deciding whether to shuffle his pack and he is keen to go into the play-offs with winning momentum.
Speaking during an interview for Dons Player, Neal Ardley said: “We will look to freshen it up. We’ve got some niggles and players who are fatigued. As to the extent of changes, we don’t know yet. We will check on one or two who are in contention tomorrow and make sure that they are okay. We will make that call tomorrow. If we can get an edge on one or two and maybe bring one or two back from injury by giving them game-time that would be a positive way to go about the game.
“Whatever the result it does not have a bearing on where we finish, but it’s important to take momentum into the play-offs. The most important thing is that we keep a good, strong, end of season run going. At the same time, we want to get an edge into players who need playing time.”
place in League 2, but the South Wales outfit were 2-0 up at half-time of the corresponding fixture in December, before a second-half Lyle Taylor double salvaged a point.ndNewport visit the Cherry Red Records Stadium on Saturday in 22
in the table at that time and in a bad run of form, Neal said the players were made aware afterwards that the time for hard-luck stories had to stop if his side were to progress.thWith Wimbledon 14
“Our form since has been excellent,” added Neal. “There was nothing weird and wonderful done at half-time of that game. The onus was put on the players who had put us in that situation and they had to get us out of it. After the game we just talked and said ‘we have to stop doing this’. We could talk about how good we were and how unlucky we were in games, but the actions had to be louder than the words. We kind of tried to make that pledge from that moment on and to be fair the lads have stuck by it.”
The full update from Neal Ardley is now on Dons Player and an interview with Barry Fuller is also on our premium channel.