Experienced defender hails contribution of striker
Paul Robinson saluted the impact of Tom Elliott after his second-half introduction revitalised Wimbledon on Saturday.
Elliott was instrumental in a fightback that so nearly secured all three points against Fleetwood and his team-mate was full of praise for him afterwards.
Speaking during a post-match interview with Rob Cornell for Dons Player, Robinson said: “We needed someone to come on and influence it and Tom did that. Tom was phenomenal up front and he has been all season. All the manager can ask for is that the substitutes effect the game and they did that. Sean (Kelly) had been out for a long time so full credit to him for stepping up in circumstances like that. He did very well too.
“If you look back to the start of the season, it is a fair chunk of the team we were missing. It shows the benefit of the squad that the manager has assembled. We were second best in the first-half and the manager made us fully aware of that at half-time. It was not acceptable, but the second-half was more like us. We were very good for the majority of the half, but it was frustrating that they equalised right at the death. It felt like we dropped two points, but I think at half-time everyone would have taken a draw.”
Next up for the Dons is an Emirates FA Cup second round tie at Curzon Ashton and the experienced centre-back warned that Wimbledon’s approach must be spot-on for the tie against National League North opponents.
“It has been a gruelling schedule in the last few weeks and it’s nice for us to dust ourselves down, have a rest, and really look forward to a traditional FA Cup tie,” added Robinson. “We will make sure we are fresh and ready. We will look forward to what will be a really good game. Everyone will be turning up and looking for an upset. As a professional team, we will have to make sure that we put in a performance that gives us the maximum chance of getting through to the third round.”