Defender edges back to fitness
Young defender Ryan Sweeney is back in light training after suffering a broken nose in a pre-season match for the Under-21s against Millwall three weeks ago.
Though the 18-year-old is not ready to be pitched in for this afternoon’s Final Third Development League fixture at Cambridge, he stepped up his recuperation yesterday.
Sweeney made three first-team appearances at the back end of last season and featured for Ireland Under-18s during the summer.
Speaking to Dons Player, Under-21s coach Alan Reeves said: “Ryan had his nose reset last week as the doctor recommended that it should be done sooner, rather than waiting until the end of the season. Ryan was back in yesterday (Monday) and he has done some running. He can now start building it up and hopefully in two weeks he will be back playing.”
AFC Wimbledon start the new season in the Final Third Development League today in a match that will be played at Cambridge United’s training ground (1.00 pm kick-off).
Alan Reeves believes there is now a clear pathway for players in his squad to stake a claim for first-team football in the future after several home-grown talents stepped up last season.
“I want to try and get as many boys in the first team squad as possible,” said Alan. “Ideally, we want to play good attractive football and get results, but the major aim is to get players ready to progress towards the first team.
“We have had trialists in, but they did not quite work out. We will have another playing today at centre back as I have a couple of spaces to fill in the squad. However, we will not sign players for the sake of it. If we have lads in who are not good enough I will give the Under-18s a chance.”
A match report from today’s Final Third Development League match will be on the official website late afternoon.