By Rob Cornell
Cody McDonald is looking forward to the second instalment of the Christmas schedule after notching his fifth goal of the season for the Dons
The striker opened the scoring for Wimbledon, early in the first half of the 2-1 victory over Bradford on Saturday. He’s now hoping for another festive finish in front of a big crowd at Fratton Park against Portsmouth.
“It’s a really important three points and something we can now take into Boxing Day with a lot of confidence,” said Cody in an interview to our premium iFollow Dons channel.
“It’s going to be a really exciting game. We’re going into it with a lot of confidence Obviously last week against Wigan was a disappointment, but I thought the performance for 65 minutes was up there with one of the best to be fair.
“We’re going into it with confidence. We’re playing well and we’ve got a game plan we’re sticking to and if we carry it out on Boxing Day, then we’ve got a great chance of coming away with something.”
"The lads are buzzing,” said Cody after strike partner Lyle Taylor gift wrapped the points with a 70th minute winner against the Bantams. The pair are pictured celebrating after Wimbledon went in front after just seven minutes yesterday.
“Sometimes at this level you need that bit of luck, but it shows good character from the boys. Everyone stuck their bodies on the line and when you do things like that you need a bit of luck and I think we thoroughly deserved the win.
“Me and Lyle seem to have struck it off at the moment. We’re working hard for each other We seem to know where each other are at times and that’s a great sign for a good partnership, so long may it continue.
“It was a very disappointing start to the second half. It was a kick in the teeth for us when they equalised, but we showed character to come back from it and a goal from Lyle. It was a great strike, although the keeper will be disappointed with it.
“Kwesi (Appiah) is going to be on our heels in the next couple of games as well and I think you need competition. Kwesi is a great lad and he’s good to have around the training ground and hopefully he’ll be back in the next couple of games.”
Cody also had praise for Dons skipper and former Gillingham team-mate Barry Fuller for his role in setting up Wimbledon’s first goal against the high-flyers from Yorkshire.
“I sort of made eye contact with Barry. I’ve played with him a long time now and I think he knows that I like to make those runs and he’s put it on a plate for me.
“I thought at one stage the keeper was going to beat me, but he sort of stopped and I just lunged at it and got a toe on it and just helped it on towards goal. Credit to Barry for picking out the pass, it’s just nice to be helping the team out at the moment.
Pic credit: Simon Davies (Pro Sports Images).
The full interview with Cody McDonald and the post-match thoughts of manager Neal Ardley are available to subscribers of our premium iFollow Dons channel.