Johnnie Jackson trusts that there’ll be no let up from his squad over Christmas, even though his vantage point will be a little further away from the action for Boxing Day’s derby.

After being dismissed from the touchline in our victory at Crawley, he’s likely to be watching over proceedings from the Cappagh Stand for the visit of Sutton United. However, Johnnie feels his players can take responsibility themselves over the festive period.

“It doesn’t even need to come from me at times – they’re driving it themselves. They know what they need to do,” said Johnnie after Christmas Eve’s training session in New Malden. “They’re big enough - and in some cases ugly enough - to make their own decisions!”

You can listen to everything Johnnie had to say from the training ground below.

The manager outlined how preparations for the game at the Cherry Red Records Stadium (kick-off 3pm) are taking shape.

“We’ve highlighted to them it’s a big, big game for us on Boxing Day,” said Johnnie. “We’re in a good place and we want to keep that going.

“A lot of today’s session was about recovery. Those who’ve played a lot of minutes had a light session and the rest of the squad did a little bit more. We’ve touched upon some tactical stuff that we felt that we needed to go through, but they’ll be off on Christmas Day as we feel it’s important that they spend that time with their families.”

It was also Johnnie’s first opportunity to talk about our battling performance that claimed all three points in West Sussex on Friday night.

“I thought it was an outstanding performance,” said Johnnie. “To come under the pressure that we did towards the end and see it through, being a man down as well, was unbelievable. To come through a difficult moment for us made it a huge win.

"I thought the performance for an hour was particularly impressive – we completely dominated the game and probably should have been even further ahead than what we were. We then showed another side to our game for the last half hour and got the job done.”

There will be one enforced change, as centre-back Joe Lewis received two yellow cards in the win at Broadfield Stadium and serves a one-game suspension.

“We’re disappointed for Joe and for us,” said Johnnie. “Alex Pearce came on though and did brilliantly. He made some vital clearances and a block towards the end and showed real leadership when we needed it. We know we can rely on ‘Pearcey’, if he comes into the team. We’ll try and get as fresh a team as we can out there.”

Main photo: Paul Hazlewood (Pro Sports Images).

If you’re unable to be at Plough Lane on Boxing Day, you can purchase a video match pass and receive full commentary from our Radio WDON team via iFollow Dons.

Johnnie and the first-team squad would like to wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas on behalf of everyone at AFC Wimbledon!