Dons boss reflects on stunning turnaround
saluted AFC Wimbledon’s fighting spirit after they came back from the dead to snatch all three points against Scunthorpe.Neal Ardley
At half-time with the Dons 2-0 down, there appeared to be little chance of Wimbledon maintaining their 100 per cent home record this season, but it was a completely different story after the break.
, Neal Ardley said: “I thought that we played well during spells of the first-half, but the goals knocked the stuffing out of us. When we conceded the first goal we lost a lot of our shape; we lost our way and we turned on each other a bit. It started to become like Exeter again and fragmented. When we conceded the second it got worse; we lost all our shape.Dons PlayerSpeaking to
“Our job at half-time was not to shout at them, but to try and get them together. We challenged them to show some team spirit in adversity. It is easy to talk about having that, but it is harder to go out there and put it into practice. We did that though and hopefully it will give us a lift for next week and we can go into that on a high.”
provided an extra dimension to Wimbledon’s play after the break and Neal is pleased with the options he now has at his disposal.Jack Midson and Chris Arthur, Kevin Sainte-LuceThe second-half introductions of
was a threat in the first-half and he had a lot of good chances for us. Unfortunately, he has missed a penalty, but he linked up well and had a hand in the first goal. Kevin and Chris came on alongside Jack and they increased the tempo of our play.”Charlie Sheringham scored today and he gets through a lot of work; he could have had three or four this season. Michael Smith“We showed a lot more energy in the second-half and with that came more chances,” added Neal. “I was pleased with a lot of aspects today.
Dons Player subscribers can now watch the full video interview with Neal Ardley and we will feature the thoughts of man of the match Harry Pell on our premium site later this weekend.