Manager says his side came up short in both boxes
Neal Ardley said that his side paid the price for ‘naivety’ after defeat against Carlisle United today.
Wimbledon failed to take their chances after Bayo Akinfenwa’s first minute opener and Carlisle punished slack defending to earn all three points.
Speaking during an interview for Dons Player, Neal Ardley said: “We had 22 attempts at goal compared to their seven and we did everything bar score after our early goal. But we were too open at times and had a bit of naivety about us. Everyone wanted to join in the attack. We worked very hard on going forward and how we were going to cause problems. I thought we did that today, but every time it never came off we looked vulnerable on the break. That’s something we have to address.
“When you lose the game it’s about what you do in both boxes. They had not threatened us until we gave away a silly free-kick and then we did not defend the box. They took every chance to throw their big guys into the box, but we gave them those opportunities and that’s a bit naïve. I cannot fault the players for their energy and effort today. We lost the game because we did not take our chances in one box and at the other end we did not defend with enough aggression, nous or cleverness.”
Neal Ardley has made four signings so far in the January transfer window and he added that he’s fully focused on taking the Dons forward as a club during the rest of 2014/15.
“The boys that we signed earlier in the week came in a bit late for this game and there was not enough time to really work with them,” Neal added. “We will try and get something done early next week. I’m trying to put together a team to finish the season strongly. We want to collect as many points in the second half of the season as we got in the first half of the campaign. We want to push ourselves into the top half of the table and have a go at it.
“I’m fully committed to this club. This club gave me my first chance and from my point of view I’ve not got it where I want it to be. I’ll endeavour to do that and work hard. We’ve had a decent season so far with cup runs, but we now need to focus on getting into the top-10.”
Neal’s full post-match reaction appeared on Dons Player earlier and an interview with Callum Kennedy will be on our premium channel tomorrow.