Interview with Wimbledon's new number nine
Matt Tubbs said that Wimbledon’s hard work on the training pitch paid off to great effect during an opening day draw against Shrewsbury.
On-loan striker Tubbs marked his debut with a fantastic headed goal and he said it provided evidence that things are coming together quickly for the Dons as an attacking force.
Speaking to Rob Cornell during an interview for Dons Player, Tubbs (pictured) said: “It’s something that we’ve worked on all pre-season. The manager wants his strikers to make runs in behind the defence. The player on the ball has to trust that I’m going to be there in that position and Jack Smith did that today. We’ve worked hard on it and it has paid off.
“We’ve got two fantastic wide players. They are both good on the ball and they can make things happen. If they can play like they did yesterday all season then we’ll have a really good chance. Sean Rigg is the type of player who can be electric and on his day he will be the best player in the league. Potentially, he could be playing in the league above. I’ve seen him for six weeks in pre-season and he’s a fantastic player. But he’s a good lad too and the manager is trying to build a squad full of good professionals.”
Despite being encouraged by the performance against Shrewsbury, Tubbs felt that it was two points dropped.
“We came in after the game and we were disappointed,” added Tubbs. “It felt like a defeat really because of the way the game went. We got our noses in front and towards the end it could have gone either way. It’s not an ideal start, but at least we did not lose, which is the main thing.
“It’s never nice to concede goals at home. They were a big side and they were only going to beat us through set-pieces. We need to work on getting our shape from set-pieces and then we will stop conceding goals.”
Dons Player subscribers can watch the full video interview with Matt Tubbs, along with extended highlights from the Shrewsbury game, which includes commentary from our WDON team.