Dons boss confident his side can move on
Neal Ardley said he is confident that Wimbledon can bounce back from tonight’s convincing defeat at the hands of Accrington Stanley.
The Wimbledon manager admitted that the manner of his side’s 4-0 loss surprised him and he made a point of apologising to the 247 travelling Dons fans that made the trip.
However, Neal believes it was just a “blip” after three successive wins and that the Dons can put it behind them on Saturday at home to Morecambe.
Speaking to Dons Player, Neal said: “I did not think it was an unlucky 4-0 defeat. I said along the way that we may have a blip, but you do not expect it to be like that and I did not see that coming. It was one of those days when everything went their way and they were really bad goals to concede. We have not been conceding goals like that lately.
“Goals change games and it was nothing to do with systems or anything else. Every time they booted the ball forward they seemed to get in one-on-one. That is something that has not happened lately. We will have a look at it, but the boys have been magnificent lately. We know what we have to do and I am confident that we can bounce back.”
Neal added that he was not too harsh on his players afterwards in the dressing room.
“I got the boys together in there and we had a bit of a group hug,” he added. “Every time we have suffered a blip we have bounced back from it. After Port Vale and Chesterfield we went on a run and we did it again after Cheltenham. That is what we have to do again. I went and apologised to the fans over there afterwards, but we have more than enough in the dressing room. We have seven games to go and we need a certain amount of points. It just makes our job harder, but we have to remain positive.”
Neal Ardley confirmed that Charlie Strutton did not make the squad due to illness and that allowed Tom Beere to gain experience with the first-team squad.
Dons Player subscribers can watch the full video interview with Neal Ardley tomorrow morning on our premium site.