Assistant manager on York test
Neil Cox believes Wimbledon now have very good attacking options in the squad and his side must aim to go on the offensive at York City on Saturday.
Lyle Taylor had his best game in a Wimbledon shirt on Tuesday at Accrington with two goals and an assist, but Neil believes it is competition from other strikers that is bringing the best out of him.
Speaking during an interview with Rob Cornell for Dons Player, Neil said: “The suspension Lyle had was not helpful to him, but he managed to get a lot of fitness work in. Lyle came back sharp and he played well the other night, but he has to play well because we have players on the bench who want to be in front of him. It is a team game and we have four very good strikers at this club at the moment. They are all pushing each other.
“It is another hard away game for us on Saturday. We got back at 4.30 am on Wednesday morning, but we will get fresh legs in and see what we are going to do on Friday. We will do a lot of work about them (York). They are under pressure and we have got to get straight into them from kick-off. We know the fans are getting on the manager’s back. We have to be positive and try and win the game.
“Everybody has to defend; it is not just the back four and the midfield. It’s a team game. We spoke to the players after the game (on Tuesday) about it and we will speak to them again on Friday. In the first 10 minutes we did not defend very well and we got caught out.”
Wimbledon will once again be without Andy Barcham (knee) and James Shea (groin) for the visit to York on Saturday. However, the news about Barcham was not as bad as first feared as scans revealed that he had suffered a medial ligament injury, rather than damage to his cruciate ligament.
“It does not look too bad for Andy and we are looking at between four and six weeks out,” added Neil. “That is good news really because we thought it could have been six months. James has a groin strain that will probably keep him out for about two or three weeks. Fair play to the lad because he has been playing on with it, but we had to take him out of the firing line because he was struggling with it.”
The full update from Neil Cox is on Dons Player, along with interviews with Jon Meades and Ade Azeez.