Team update and Neal on preparing his side
Aaron Morris will be back in the squad for tomorrow night’s match at Northampton Town after shaking off a hamstring strain.
Neal Ardley today confirmed that the versatile Morris (pictured above) will be available and he could be an option in either defence or midfield at Sixfields Stadium.
The Dons go into this match buoyed by Saturday’s morale-boosting 4-3 win against Cheltenham Town, but Neal is expecting another tough test against a Northampton side that have lost just once in their last eight games.
Speaking to Rob Cornell during an interview for Dons Player, Neal Ardley said: “We will try to put together a team that will produce a really good performance. We'll not go there just to shut up shop and we will try to win the game. Northampton have lost just once in their last eight games and they have brought in some very good players. Chris Wilder is a good manager, his record suggests that, and we are under no illusions about the task that we have ahead of us.
“Apart from the odd blip here and there, we feel that we’ve been in really good form. As far as results go, it does not quite look that way, but our performances have been good. In the end we put in a very good performance on Saturday.”
With such a tight League 2 table at the current time, Neal added that looking at other results is not something he’s wasted his time doing.
“If you start looking over your shoulders at what other teams are doing then you can end up killing yourself,” Neal said. “I’ve got to be very positive. I have to lead this group and try and help them finish the season as strongly as possible. I’m not going to do that if I keep worrying about what might happen. You take this as an opportunity to do some man-management. You speak to one or two players to try and get into their heads and be positive with them.
“I can only control what team I pick and the message that I give to my players going out there. The other thing I can control is to freshen the players up mentally and physically. I will do all those things and if we play very well then Northampton will have to do well to get something from the game.”
Dons Player subscribers can watch the full video interview with Neal Ardley and the thoughts of Chris Arthur on facing one of his former clubs will be on our premium site later.