AFC Wimbledon

Winger up for the fight

AFC Wimbledon winger Sean Rigg is hoping to halt the progress of one of his former managers tomorrow, but is well aware of the battle to figure in his current manager’s plans.

Rigg played under current Northampton Town boss Chris Wilder, when he took him from Port Vale to Oxford United: “He’s a good manager and knows how he wants his team to play and he’ll have Northampton prepared for this, he’ll know what we’re about but I think we’ll give them a good game on our pitch and we’ll make it difficult.”

“Training has been good, we’ve gone over a few bits on them,” added the attacking midfielder. “We’ve looked at how we want to take the game and it’s going to be a difficult pitch for Northampton to play on, from what they are used to. Hopefully they can’t cope with it as much as we can.”

Rigg has proved a hit with Dons fans in his first season, since his arrival from the Kassam Stadium and his work ethic in pre-season was praised by Wimbledon manager Neal Ardley. However, Rigg knows he can’t afford to rest on his laurels.

“I had a spell recently where I was rested and a couple of players came in and did well, Craig Tanner has come in and done well and I’ve kind of been in and out. It’s been difficult getting your chances, but I’ve enjoyed it and feel fit and I’m confident and I want to be playing week in, week out.”

“I think it’s good to have that challenge really,” he added in an interview to Dons Player, “It keeps you on your toes and you need to be pushed, otherwise someone else will come in and take their opportunity and then you’re looking at a couple of games on the bench which is not ideal – so it’s definitely a good thing.”

Rigg, who has come up with six goals in total so far this campaign, is realistic about the Dons own play-off prospects as they go into Good Friday’s encounter seven points off the places.

“It’s still really tight. If we’d have won last Saturday at Tranmere it might have been a different story, but it’s going to be hard for us, it’s a big ask, but you never know – you’ve just got to keep going, game after game and hopefully pick up as many wins as we can.”