Midfielder on Southend clash and making his mark
Dannie Bulman says he’s still relishing midfield battles in League 2 at the age of 35 and will keep doing the “horrible stuff” to move AFC Wimbledon forward.
The Dons travel to Southend United tonight aiming for another positive result on the road after victory at Luton Town and Dannie’s motivation for such big games remains strong.
Speaking during an interview for Dons Player, Dannie said: “I take care of myself and it’s just about having that mentality and hunger to win games. You want to play in the big games with intimidating atmospheres. It was really nice to come away from a place like Luton – with their fans really having a go at us – and get our first win of the season.
“I think as a team we work very hard and we do a lot of work on the training pitch, which focuses on how we are going to affect other teams. We score as a team too and that’s the way it has to be. I do the horrible stuff and give it to the players who can do the fancy stuff. Southend will be up there come the end of this season, but the boys are in good spirits and we are going to try and take that momentum forward into Tuesday.”
Billed as the “joker in the pack” by his close friend Matt Tubbs from their days together at Crawley Town, Dannie told Dons Player that he’s provided “glimpses” of his dry sense of humour during his time at Wimbledon so far.
However, Dannie has a steely motivation to help Wimbledon progress this season and he believes the Dons can keep improving.
“First and foremost, having a goalscorer is the difference up and down the leagues,” added Dannie. “If you’ve got someone who can bang in the goals then you have half a chance and we’ve got that with Matt. Looking at the bigger picture, it will be important to keep everyone fresh and grind out results when we’re not playing that well. I would love to be popping the ball around and battering teams, but sometimes you have to dig in and weather the storm. I think there’s a lot more to come from the squad and myself.”
.Manager's UpdateWimbledon have two former Southend United players in their ranks with Adam Barrett having spent six seasons at Roots Hall and Mark Phillips was with the Essex club for four seasons before joining the Dons in the summer. If you missed our interview with Neal Ardley ahead of Southend, click on
The full interview with Dannie Bulman appeared on Dons Player yesterday and subscribers can listen to match commentary from our WDON team at Southend tonight via the premium service.