Manager has options for play-off chase
Manager Neal Ardley will be without the suspended Ryan Sweeney and Bayo Akinfenwa for the visit of York City on Saturday, but his two new loan signings are in contention for home debuts.
Central defender Darius Charles and forward Rhys Murphy could figure against the Minstermen, who are battling against relegation while the Dons look to get their push for a play-off place back on track.
“Everyone is available, except Bayo and Ryan,” said Neal in an interview to Dons Player. “Tom Elliott and Andy Barcham trained today, Sean Rigg had tonsillitis in the week but he trained today and you add Darius and Rhys to that and next week when Ryan and Bayo come back from their suspensions we could have a real selection dilemma!”
“There will be an expectation on us to win at home against York and you wish it was that easy,” added the Dons boss. “When we were fighting against relegation we went to several clubs and upset them so we’ve got to be on top of it and all we can do is focus on us.”
“We’ve made a really good addition to the squad this week (new loan signing Darius Charles from Burton Albion) and I was really impressed with Rhys last week and he’s trained really well. We feel we’ve got lots of options and really good strikers and if we can see our jobs out that little bit better than the last couple of weeks, we know we’ve got the talent to score down the other end.”
Dons Player subscribers can hear Neal Ardley’s thoughts ahead of York City, plus what happened when he met up with two “legends” - former Dons managers Dave Anderson and Terry Brown - at the Cheltenham Festival this week.