Neal Ardley will assess his options tomorrow
Dons vice-captain Barry Fuller is ready to be pitched straight back into action against Cheltenham on Saturday after he was forced off injured in the first-half at Burton Albion.
The right-back (picked) has trained since Tuesday after shrugging off a gluteal strain and he will be back in the squad. However, Aaron Morris and Kevin Sainte-Luce are both doubtful with hamstring injuries.
Speaking to Dons Player, Neal Ardley said: “Barry is fine now and I think it was a bit of fatigue at the end of a hard week, but he has trained since Tuesday. Aaron will probably take a bit longer. Playing two games in five days recently probably killed him after such a long lay-off, but he will play a big part during the next week. We have a couple of little knocks picked up in training. Kevin Sainte-Luce has a tight hamstring and one or two will be assessed tomorrow for Saturday.
“It is hard because with nine games left you are trying to keep that competitive edge on them, but we have a good squad of players and sometimes these little things happen.”
Despite two admirable draws against sides vying for promotion, Neal is demanding more from his players during the latter stages of the season and he says that Wimbledon’s fans can play their part during the run-in.
“The players need to go out and deliver,” he said. “It was only two points that we took during a week when nine were available. Although two of those three games we can take heart from because they were against teams in the top-six, it’s all about points at this stage of the season. You will constantly hear people say that this is now the nitty-gritty of the season with nine games to go. We need to get points on the board and I think everyone would accept an average performance and we win 1-0.
“There is no easy way to get points because we are playing in the tightest out of all four divisions this season. There is no massive gulf between the teams and that’s shown by all the draws recently. Everyone is fighting for something and we are no different.
“There are a lot of things that stand in your way of getting a win. Some of it is your quality, but a lot of it is to do with mentality, particularly with us at home recently. We need to try and conquer that so that we take the anxiety and nervousness out of our play. We have four home games to go and let’s try to make our place as big a fortress as we can. We need the fans to help us do that. Though we need to get them going, the fans need them to turn up and be positive. They can see a team that has had a few confidence issues in the last couple of months, but the only way they can help is to get behind us.”
Dons Player subscribers can watch the full six-minute video interview with Neal Ardley on our premium site and the thoughts of Michael Collins later on today.