Decision on defender to be made tomorrow
Captain Alan Bennett had recovered enough to take part in training today and Neal Ardley said that a final decision on his participation in the cup tie at Milton Keynes will be made tomorrow.
The centre-back was stretchered off towards the end of Saturday’s draw against Shrewsbury and he required stitches after suffering a head wound following a clash of heads.
on the official website yesterday.announcedOn-loan Gillingham centre-back Adam Barrett is ineligible to play for Wimbledon in the Capital One Cup, which we
During an interview for Dons Player, Neal Ardley updated us on the skipper’s progress and talked about preparations for the Capital One Cup first round tie.
“There was no concussion for Alan and we will make a decision on him tomorrow,” Neal confirmed. “We’ve not named the team yet, but we’ve done a bit of work to ensure everyone is aware of what needs to be done. I’m sure come 7.45 pm the team will be ready to give their best.
“Before we played Chelsea we had the foresight to think that this would be a very similar game. Though Chelsea had quite a few youngsters out, we thought it would be similar in terms of the strengths of our opponents. We prepared very hard for the Chelsea game and what we’ve done is refresh our performance against Chelsea in the way that we set-up. We’ve gone through it all 11 v 11 just so that we let the players know their jobs.”
Neal Ardley is determined that his side put on a performance to make Wimbledon’s supporters proud with another good away turnout expected tomorrow night. However, he stressed the need for his players to use their heads and not get caught up in the occasion.
“Last time we went there our fans were immense,” added Neal. “We have to make sure that we don’t let a good team run all over us. It’s important that we produce a performance that makes our fans proud.
“I don’t think we have any players now who were involved in the FA Cup game two seasons ago, but it’s important that we manage the situation. We have to ensure the players play with their heads and not their hearts. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the emotion of it all, but we want to put in a good team performance.”
for more details.announcementTickets are still remaining for tomorrow night's Capital One Cup tie and please view our previous
Neal was earlier today interviewed for Sky Sports News and this is expected to appear on the popular channel later today/tomorrow.The video update from Neal Ardley is now on our premium channel and we will feature an interview with Barry Fuller later on after he signed an extended contract last week.