Dons manager on a superb victory
has challenged his players to use today’s dramatic win at Rochdale as a catalyst to start climbing the League 2 table.Neal Ardley
, Neal believes the trials and tribulations of the past six weeks – Wimbledon had not won since Burton Albion on 21 September – has made his squad stronger.Dons PlayerSpeaking to
“We are delighted with the three points and even if they had scored late on I would have been really proud of what we got from the lads,” said the Wimbledon manager. “I think that we are going to be stronger for the past month that we have had. During the past week in training I have seen a group of players that are trying to put actions into place, rather than words. They do care and they do not like losing. The staff and players have come together today and sometimes when you do that you get a slice of luck. I thought that our second-half performance was excellent.”
for his part in the eventual victory.Andy FramptonNeal was concerned that the match would be abandoned after floodlight failure because he felt that Wimbledon had a great chance of winning and he saluted match-winner
“My main worry was that the game would get abandoned and at that point I thought the least that we were going to get was a point,” the Wimbledon manager added. “I felt that we had the momentum and we might lose that. We did to a certain degree because they came out and went for it, but we defended like lions.
was tireless up front today. There were so many good performances. In the second-half we started believing that we were a good team and showing some of the stuff that we do in training, but we have to use today as a catalyst to be more consistent.”Michael Smith is a leader too and when you have those two in there that is a big plus. I thought Alan Bennett“Andy is a leader and that is why I signed him.
.Rochdale winDons Player subscribers can watch the full video interview with Neal Ardley later today and the thoughts of captain Alan Bennett tomorrow. To read the full match report, click on