Assistant manager's update ahead of Chesterfield
Neil Cox said today that key players are likely to be fit for Saturday’s match against Chesterfield and he believes that AFC Wimbledon have a squad strong enough to be competitive in League One.
Captain Barry Fuller suffered a gash to the shin in the Checkatrade Trophy win against Swansea, a match that Darius Charles (illness) and Paul Robinson (knee) both missed, but all three are expected to be ready for Saturday’s home game.
“Barry was a little bit sore this morning so he had a second day of recovery after Tuesday,” Neil told Dons Player. “Darius and Paul both trained today and had lighter sessions. We will see how they are tomorrow, but hopefully those three will be fit for selection. The boys are looking in good shape. George Francomb has come back in now and everyone is fit. The manager wanted a big squad to pick from and that is what we have got now.
“If you look right through the leagues everybody has been spending money to bring players in. That is the way football is going at the moment. We just have to get organised on what we do and not worry about the transfer market for anybody else. We did all our business early and we have a good squad. We are now getting a fully fit squad together with players having come back from injury, which is good news.
“We are finally getting there now. We were a bit open at times previously, but we’ve done a lot of work on the training field in the last couple of weeks and I think you can see that in our defensive play. We need to be better with the ball and hopefully at home on Saturday we will be. The other night against Swansea we were better on the ball and the players are taking everything on board.”
The Dons face a Chesterfield side currently in mid-table at the moment after a bright start to the season. Experienced manager Danny Wilson has made two new additions this week with the arrivals of Tom Anderson and Conor Wilkinson, the pair loaned from Burnley and Bolton respectively.
Neil believes Chesterfield will be a tough proposition on Saturday, but he said it’s a challenge the Dons are relishing.
“This is why we got promoted and we are looking forward to it,” added Neil. “Danny is an experienced manager who has been around a long time and had some really good jobs in football. It’s going to be a hard game for us. They try to get the ball down and pass it, a bit like Swansea did the other night. We need to be mentally switched on as they will try to carve us open, but when we get the ball we have to do what we are good at.
“When the players cross the while line the players have to do their jobs. They have done that in the last couple of weeks and things have gone quite well. We will do a little bit of work tomorrow on how they (Chesterfield) have been playing. They will probably have the same formation, but the players may change. We will not know that until a quarter to two on Saturday. We will just get organised on how we expect them to play.”
Extended highlights from the Checkatrade Trophy win, along with interviews with George Francomb and Lyle Taylor, also featured earlier this week. There is plenty of content worth having a look at on Dons Player , including interviews with Neil Cox and Dean Parrett on our premium channel today.