Manager's reaction after Northampton
Neal Ardley was frustrated that his side failed to beat Northampton Town with a performance that he said summed up Wimbledon’s season so far.
Speaking during his post-match interview for Dons Player, Neal lamented a lack of cutting edge in attack and the manner of Northampton’s equaliser, which came about after a short corner.
“There is disappointment and frustration, but I have to be careful because I sound like I am repeating myself all the time,” said Neal. “You have to take your chances in football and you have to defend set-pieces, which we haven’t all season. If we put those two things together we would be in the top three or four. Again, we have had 17 attempts on goal compared to their four. Chris Wilder shook hands with me and said we thoroughly deserved to win the game, but we didn’t.
“I cannot make any excuses, but all I can say is that we are trying. We are doing our best and I think we have the makings of a decent team. We attack well and we can be exciting, but it is not getting us results at the moment. We have not got the points total that we should have, but that is for us to try and correct. We have to keep working hard on the training pitch and believe me we do.”
Neal added that he was delighted with the performances of new loan signing Semi Ajayi and Lyle Taylor, who made his comeback after suspension as a substitute.
“I thought Semi was excellent and it was a really good debut,” Neal said. “He went and powered his first header and got a cheer from the fans and I think that settled him down. Semi said to me that he was really fit and had been working hard, but I think he felt it in the last 10 minutes. There is nothing like a game of League 2. He is athletic, quick and decent on the ball. I was delighted with him.
“Lyle is the sort of player that when he gets around the box you think something is going to happen. He put in a great reverse shot after he came on that nearly went in and then he put in a cross on a sixpence for Ade. He was excellent after he came on. Now that we have Lyle fit I think we could have a real player on our hands.
“I was considering whether to throw Lyle in today, but I felt that Ade deserved to stay in the team. It was not his fault that we went down to 10 men at Luton. Ade has repaid us tonight with a goal, but I thought he could have had four.”
The full post-match interview with Neal is now on Dons Player.