Striker says that squad are determined to put things right
Tom Elliott says that the players must work harder for each other to get results in League One with another tough test at Charlton Athletic coming up this Saturday.
The striker’s first goal since 30 January was not enough to earn a point against Sheffield United and Elliott said that everyone in the team must take collective responsibility for conceding at the other end.
“It gets to the point when you have to take a big look at yourselves and say, ‘we are not going to concede today’. We kept a clean sheet at Northampton and nearly did that too at Rochdale so we did well in that period. It’s annoying more than anything because we do work hard in training, but I think we have to push each other a lot more and hopefully we will get our results from it.
“Sheffield United have been in this league for over five years and they are always one of the favourites every season. They are a massive club and they will be up there at the end of the season, like they always are. It doesn’t get any easier for us because Charlton have just come down from the Championship. They have a big budget and they are going to want to go straight back up. We have to work really hard in training and put things right for Saturday.
“The manager said that they (Sheffield United) worked harder than us. We should not be conceding three goals at home and if you score twice that should be enough to win. We are scoring goals, but we have to prevent them at the other end. We can only do that as a team by working hard and sticking together.
“No one wants to be at the bottom end of the table and in a relegation battle. The manager and coaching staff will keep pushing us, but we have to work hard to move up the table.”
With Wimbledon having scored four goals in the last two games – three of those coming from strikers – Elliott believes competition for places up front is getting the best out of them.
“The manager brought on me and Lyle to try and change the game and we almost did it,” added Elliott. “It is not like we are going to be sitting on the bench jealous of them. When we come on we have to try and do our jobs. If we are not in the team we have to work hard in training to get our places back. Dominic and Tyrone will be working hard to keep their places. We have four very good strikers and healthy competition is only going to make us better.”