Vice-captain looks ahead to Northampton
Barry Fuller is aiming to win another battle on the pitch tomorrow after he came through a testing time in his personal life.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s match at Northampton Town, the experienced right-back revealed that he was touch and go to play in last Saturday’s draw against Tranmere Rovers as his daughter was in hospital and required an operation.
However, Fuller decided to play after a chat with manager Neal Ardley and he led by example as captain for the day with a performance that earned the man of the match award. And Fuller was also pleased to report that his daughter is now on the road to recovery.
“It was nice getting that award,” Fuller said. “I’d had a difficult couple of days on the personal front with my daughter being ill, but it shows how I put that behind me. I wanted to battle through and do my best for the team and obviously that paid off with a man-of-the-match award.”
As soon as the manager gave me the go-ahead, I was raring to go. We knew it was going to be a big battle because they are very physical.” “I went to the gaffer and he asked me if I was in the right frame of mind to play. Obviously I wanted to play and I knew that my daughter was in safe hands with my wife and family.
And there’s been good news about his daughter since then. “She’s home now and on the mend,” Barry added. “Obviously coming to football got me out of the house and away from that, but she is well now so I’m pleased with that.”
Since joining the Dons, Fuller’s tenacious style has him a favourite with the fans – he was the club’s Player of the Year in 2013/14 – and all of his battling qualities will be required again at Sixfields Stadium tomorrow.
“You know when you go to Northampton it’s always going to be a tough game and a lot of the fans will remember last season,” Fuller said. “It was a big point for us in the end and we showed character in that previous game (a 2-2 draw at Northampton last season). We were very close to the bottom and we could have been dragged into a relegation battle if we had not got something.
“We’ve got to be ready for what they are going to throw at us. When a team is on a bad run you don’t want to be the side that they end it against. If we do our jobs right we can make it a difficult afternoon for them.”
The full interview with Barry Fuller can now be viewed by Dons Player subscribers.