Neal Ardley aims to get the best out of talented player
Neal Ardley believes that an in-form George Francomb could make a big difference for Wimbledon during the last 10 games after his first league goal of the season against Chesterfield.
Wimbledon face another of the promotion chasers tomorrow with a visit to Burton Albion and more of the same from George would certainly help their cause at the Pirelli Stadium.
Neal said: “George did really well on Tuesday. If you look at what George is about as a player he has great delivery and crossing ability. Last season he produced high-energy performances and it was effortless from him. But this season he has struggled with that side of it. George obviously had a setback with an injury, but he has worked really hard to get stronger. On Tuesday he worked incredibly hard. He is an intelligent player who knows the game well. We just have to make George more effective and if we can get more performances out of him like the other night then he will be a big plus for us.”
During a Dons Player interview with Rob Cornell, George accepted that his contribution to Wimbledon’s attack has so far not been good enough – and he hopes to change that during the run-in.
“I’ve only scored two in all competitions this season and that’s not enough by my standards,” George said. “I have got in a lot of goalscoring positions, but it’s not quite happened for me. Luckily one nestled in the back of the net from me on Tuesday and hopefully I can get a few more during the rest of this season.
“The goal lifted our crowd a bit and though it was only a draw for us in the end hopefully it will be a valuable point. We have a really strong squad at the moment and that is really good. If you don’t give your all then you might be dropped from the squad.”
George is under no illusions that it’s going to be tough to do the double against Burton Albion after the 3-1 Wimbledon win at the Cherry Red Records Stadium in September.
“We got off to a flyer at the start of the season and turned over the first four teams at home,” George recalled. “Going up to their place will be difficult because they’re on a good run at the moment. We have to take the confidence we gained from Tuesday’s performance and if we can repeat the resilience that we showed in that match then hopefully we can come away with a win.”
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Dons Player subscribers can watch the full video interviews with Neal Ardley and George Francomb, along with extended highlights of Tuesday’s entertaining draw against League 2 leaders Chesterfield.