Manager's update ahead of Daggers test
Neal Ardley said there are no fresh injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s match against Dagenham and he is aiming to pick a side that will produce a high intensity display at home.
Speaking during an interview with Rob Cornell for Dons Player, Neal said: “At the moment we are absolutely fine. It’s more about getting them fresh enough to go out and do what we want them to do. Dagenham have had a free week in their preparations, but we had a tough midweek game. We need to freshen up the players so that they’re capable of producing the tempo that we hope to play at on Saturday.
“I always look at every player and assess the best way of winning each game, but we’ve also got a game on Tuesday and then the following Saturday. If we can get through this period by picking up some results and not getting any more injuries then that will be great. It has been a tough period of games, but we will assess the players tomorrow and then start preparing for the game.
“In home games we need to play with intensity because we are a better team when we keep the tempo good. We need to make sure that happens because we desperately want to win. We want to show that we’ve learnt from the two games when we played particularly poorly and I think we will. We’ve spoken about that and put actions into place, but it starts with these two home games and we want to get the points.”
Though Dagenham & Redbridge are currently below Wimbledon in the League 2 table, Neal is fully aware of the threat that Wayne Burnett’s side could pose.
"They've got options up front with Jamie Cureton and Christian Doidge, who is very powerful in the air," Neal added. "Rhys Murphy is also back fit now and I'm a big fan of his. They are a good team. It shows how tough this league is that good teams are struggling to put runs together that will get them where they want to be."
Dons Player subscribers will be able to watch the full video interview with Neal Ardley later on today and an interview with Bayo Akifenwa.