Chris Slavin
Neal Ardley said that it is too soon for Harry Forrester to be pitched into the AFC Wimbledon starting line-up.
Harry, who was signed on a season-long loan from Rangers on Wednesday, is not deemed fit enough to line-up against Doncaster and a more likely target is the Checkatrade Trophy match at Barnet on Tuesday night.
"In order for our fans to see the best of Harry, we need to get him fit," said Neal. "You have to remember that he was not wanted as part of the pre-season at his previous club, so he has struggled to get the level of work in that you would expect in that period. Harry is probably a few weeks behind the boys – he knows that. The best season he had was when he was in the top-two at his club for the bleep test. We need to get him back to those levels.
"We have a plan, that started with him doing fitness work on Tuesday, and that will continue. We will probably not include him in the squad for Saturday, but he will maybe get his minutes up on Tuesday night. We will try to build him up from there. We will see the signs when he is at his peak and that is when he becomes a serious candidate for the team. At this stage of the season you have to be super-fit, otherwise you are not going to do yourself justice."
Neal believes that the addition of attacking midfielder Harry will provide a big boost when he reaches that peak fitness.
"A new signing makes a big difference," added Neal. "It creates more competition for places and can raise the levels even greater. We try not to do doom and gloom around the training ground – everything we do is about positivity. Obviously we have to produce on the pitch, but we feel we have a really good squad. At the moment, it has not quite gone for us results-wise, but there has been positive signs in at least three of the games."
A full interview with Neal ahead of Doncaster, plus interviews with Cody McDonald and Anthony Hartigan, are on our iFollow channel.