Manager interviewed ahead of tonight's game
Neal Ardley said he’s determined to retain the ‘feel-good factor’ created by AFC Wimbledon’s recent rise.
Ahead of tonight’s match against Milton Keynes, praised the part supporters have played during this season’s League One campaign.
“It has been great,” said Neal. “There was a period in League 2 when it felt like we were not going forward as quickly as we had all hoped and you could sense that frustration – I certainly could as a manager. But then we had that play-off run that took us to Wembley, as we all know. I think now there has been a feel-good factor restored: back into the group, the whole club, and everything we are doing at the moment.
“We should be in a bottom six battle, based on the figures, but we are trying to make sure we are in a top-12 battle. It is enjoyable trying to do that and I think the fans have come with us on that. Whatever team we send out tonight, the remit will be, ‘have a go, have a crack at it’. If the boys do that, then we will not complain.”
Speaking during his pre-match interview for Dons Player, Neal also stressed how important it was to end this season on a high.
“It is a long marathon season, our first in League One, and you don’t want to finish with it being a bit of an effort to get over the line,” Neal added. “We want our fans thinking that we’ve had a really good season and the boys have done us proud. That is all we ever try and do and we aim to overachieve. For that to happen, we need to keep pushing hard and keep performing as well as we can.
“There are loads of things we want to try and do. At the end of the season we want to try and find out a bit more about ourselves: the players we’ve got, different ways of playing and different formations. But we have to do that when we are above 50 points and cracking on. We are on 47 points with 10 games to go, but we have to make sure we see it through. We can then maybe find out a little bit about our younger players, the senior boys, and about what we are going to do next season.”
and you can listen to full match commentary on our premium channel tonight from 7.45 pm.Dons PlayerThe full interview with Neal Ardley is on