An update on U-18s defender after injury
Mark Robinson has confirmed that an injury to Taylor Roles is not as bad as first feared and the young centre-back has recovered well since a 3-1 defeat at Northampton Town on Saturday.
Taylor’s injury to his back caused the first Football League Youth Alliance match of 2014/15 for Wimbledon to be cut short with 79 minutes on the clock.
However, manager Mark Robinson said: “Taylor is back home after being in hospital and thankfully nothing is broken. It is just heavy bruising and that’s a massive relief. We were really worried at the time, but now he’s able to walk around on crutches. We will keep monitoring him and fingers-crossed he will be back soon.”
Taylor is pictured above in action in his side’s final warm-up game last week (photograph by Rob Cornell).
Mark Robinson was disappointed that the young Dons did not take their flying pre-season form into a first competitive match of the season.
For the first-half, in particular, I’m at a loss to explain why our performance lacked so many of the givens required to compete in any football match.“With a few first-team boys stepping up to the first-team for friendlies at the weekend, it was a great opportunity for other players to step-up to the mark and regulars from last season to be leaders,” said Mark. "
“This is never acceptable, but after such an impressive pre-season I’m a little bit bewildered. Every player will be spoken to this week. Though it is all about development at this level, I will not tolerate players taking lightly the privilege of wearing the club’s shirt.”
minute when Dodzi Agbenu punished poor defending by heading home from close-range. However, Dan Agyei restored parity 10 minutes before the break with a fine solo goal.th The Dons fell behind in the 20
Though Wimbledon started the second-half with greater purpose, Agbenu added his second on the hour with a deflected drive. Substitute Dan Ano and Agyei threatened to equalise, but Shaun McWilliams sealed victory after the Dons defence failed to deal with a free-kick.
The game was then delayed for 40 minutes as Taylor Roles received treatment and it was decided not to resume the match. The outcome will be decided once the referee’s report is submitted to the Football League, but Mark Robinson has recommended that the result should stand.
Man of the Match for Wimbledon was Callum Wilson.
Everyone at the club hopes that Taylor Roles will be back in a Wimbledon shirt soon.
Meanwhile, Under-18s left-back Ben Harrison has been praised by Neal Ardley – and not just for cleaning the manager’s boots! The 17-year-old stepped up to the first-team in the friendly win at Aldershot and slotted in effectively for one so young.
Speaking to Rob Cornell on Dons Player, Neal Ardley said: “I thought Ben Harrison did really well. It’s quite funny actually as he cleans my boots so he’d better keep doing a good job on them! He’s started the season well and stepped up to play for Alan Reeves with the Under-21s.
“On the back of that, when we’re recruiting, we’re actually saying ‘do we need a left-back’ to recruit at younger age groups because we don’t want to stop the progress of Ben. He came in and had a great debut and I hope Ben really enjoyed it.”