Interview with Mark Robinson
Mark Robinson saluted youngster Emmanuel Akokhia after he put his injury problems behind him with a well-taken goal for a Wimbledon development side yesterday.
Speaking in an interview for Dons Player, our Academy Manager was pleased to watch Emmanuel show his promise against more senior players as the forward struck in a 2-1 defeat against Sutton United yesterday.
“Emmanuel has played football for me since he was a schoolboy and he has so much ability,” said Mark. “Chelsea were actually pursuing him for some time then and he used to score goals for fun. But he has since had a terrible time with injuries and was out for well over a year. So I was really pleased for him yesterday as he came on and the goal he scored was fantastic. He took it up to the goalkeeper, opened up his body and did a drag past him, which shows the belief and ability he has. Hopefully, he can stay injury-free so that he can show Terry what he can do in the next few months.”
Duvaine Lindo, Tom Beere and Khan Williams were other youngsters to cope with the step-up well against a strong Sutton side. Mark also updated us on his Under-18s side after their first Football Youth Alliance win of the season on Saturday against Aldershot. They now have another 10 days without a competitive game, but Mark believes that offers valuable time to work on the things that they have been doing wrong.
The full video interview with Mark can be viewed on Dons Player, along with an audio interview with Simon Bassey.