“We stay true to what we do”

Johnnie prepares to enter a busy festive period

15 December 2023

Johnnie Jackson and his squad aren’t getting carried away ahead of Saturday’s visit to Salford City, regardless of our recent excellent form.

Last weekend’s 4-0 victory over Swindon Town resulted in five of our players included in the League Two Team of the Week, with Joe Lewis and Jake Reeves also included in the overall EFL Team and Johnnie named as manager of both.

“We’ve stayed grounded all throughout the season so far,” said Johnnie, shortly before departing our New Malden training base earlier. “I’ve got a good group that manage that themselves.

“The other side of that is that when we’ve had a couple of bad results, we haven’t made a big deal of it – we stay true to what we do. I’ve said to the boys that when that does happen, you’ve just got to keep believing in what we’re doing. When we get the wins, you can’t think that all of a sudden, you’ve cracked it.

“I feel like we’re in a good place and we’re playing some good stuff, but the boys know that we haven’t achieved anything yet. We’re not even halfway through the season, so it’s about keep doing what we’re doing, trying to find that consistency, and I think we’ll be alright if we do that. We’re certainly not going to get carried away.”

You can listen to everything Johnnie had to say below.

Despite Salford’s lowly position, in twentieth place, Johnnie is wary of the threat they could pose on home territory at the Peninsula Stadium tomorrow afternoon.

“When you look at the table you think that they’re struggling but having watched them and done the homework – they’re a good team,” said Johnnie.

“The conditions might not be favourable and the pitch might not be holding up brilliantly, so there’s that to contend with. They’ve got a way of playing that makes it difficult for you and a centre-forward in Matt Smith who is one of the top scorers in the league. They’ve got threats that we have to be well aware of – we are, and we’ve done our work on that.

“They’ll know that they are in for a game as well, what with our away form and now that we’ve backed that up at home - we go there in good nick. It’ll be a tough one though.”

Armani 16.9.JPG

We set off for the north west this afternoon in good shape. Johnnie again has plenty to choose from his squad, following some difficult discussions with those who’ve had to be left behind on this occasion. Armani Little was rated 50/50 to play against Swindon, but our manager explained how fortunately things turned out.

“I have to make those judgement calls, it’s my job to pick the team that I think is going to get the job done,” said Johnnie.

“I’m also very mindful that I don’t want to put players at risk – it’s their body and it has to be with their blessing. Me and Armani had a really open and honest conversation before that game about how he felt. We managed his training going into it and he felt okay to start. I did tell him that if he had any problems, he needed to let me know.

“He’s in great form, a really important player for us and if he’s available – I’m keen to have him out there. I’m sure he’s glad he chose to play – what with his goal and his performance! We have to keep a close eye on him though in this crazy schedule and manage the group really well, with him being a key part of that.”

Photos: Pro Sports Images.

You can listen to full commentary of the game at Salford City, with our Radio WDON team, by purchasing an iFollow audio match pass.

Match Reports

Dons held at Salford

Goalless at the Peninsula Stadium

16 December 2023

AFC Wimbledon were made to settle for a point on Saturday afternoon as Salford City held us to a 0-0 draw.

It could’ve been an entirely different story however, with Ali Al-Hamadi passing up some brilliant chances to take all three points home to South London. It was uncharacteristic from our number 10 who also created a good opening for Josh Neufville.

All in all we were rarely troubled by the home side and will certainly feel that this is perhaps an opportunity missed to make it three wins in a row across all competitions. A clean sheet and a point will be pleasing for Johnnie Jackson, however he will undoubtedly feel it should have been more.

Watch highlights of today's game below.

Our manager named an unchanged team from the 4-0 win over Swindon Town as the Dons sought to add to what is an already impressive away record.

In keeping with the theme of our most recent matches Wimbledon started the faster of the two sides with Armani Little seeing an early effort whistle narrowly off target.

Our players were understandably oozing confidence, with Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, Neufville and Al-Hamadi all showing nice touches in the final third as we sought a breakthrough.

The pressure was mounting on the hosts however we couldn’t quite find the magic touch required to put us ahead. Little had another opportunity from distance just shy of the half hour mark as he fired over the bar following a corner.

Our number 14 found most of the half chances coming his way in the opening 45 minutes as he again fired just off target soon after.

Moving into the second-half and it was a case of maintaining the pressure that we had built up on the Salford goal in the first.

It was a task we took too well in the opening stages, with Al-Hamadi threading Neufville in behind the defence, allowing our number 11 the chance to force Alex Cairns into a good save. Alex Bass then made his first notable save of the afternoon as he kept out a Conor McAleny free-kick.

Al-Hamadi was then presented with the chance of the game just after the hour mark as he sped through the Salford backline - the in-form striker kept his composure to round Cairns but his effort went wide from a tight angle.

It was then the turn of Jack Currie to have a pop at goal on his birthday, with the 22-year-old seeing a powerful effort palmed away from the top corner by Cairns. James Tilley and Harry Pell were introduced off the bench as we sought a goal to put us in front as the game approached the final quarter.

The best openings continued to fall the way of Al-Hamadi, however he couldn’t find his golden touch second time round either as his effort missed the target after getting in behind. More fire power was brought onto the pitch soon after as Josh Davison entered the field in place of Neufville.

Our number 10 had a chance win it as the 90^thminute came around, however his effort went the wrong side of the post as his frustrations continued.

This proved to be the final action of the game on a day when the Dons could have easily walked away with all three points.

AFC Wimbledon: Alex Bass, Huseyin Biler, Jake Reeves, Ryan Johnson, Ali Al-Hamadi, Josh Neufville (Josh Davison), Armani Little, Omar Bugiel (Harry Pell), Connor Lemonheigh-Evans (James Tilley), Jack Currie, Joe Lewis

Attendance: 2,338 (412 away)

PICS: Clive Howes (Pro Sports Images)