Joe Pigott has been at Wimbledon less than a year, but he’s already well immersed in our history to realise the significance of tomorrow’s game against visitors Sunderland.
Sixteen years ago the two clubs were at opposite ends of the football pyramid, but on Saturday they meet on equal terms again at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.
“The story is fantastic,” said Joe, in an interview with our premium iFollow Dons channel. “We’ve just got to do our best for the fans and take the game to Sunderland when they come to our place. We will be respectful of them as a club and in name, but we’ll be looking to take it to them and give it a good go. At the end of the day, we’re a new squad and we’re still bedding in really and I think it will come to fruition in the next few games or even longer than that. We’re still building ourselves and I think at the moment we look good.
“Hopefully our fans can quieten down the travelling supporters. Fair play to them though, for taking over 2000 fans to Gillingham the other night – that’s a serious round-trip! They’ll definitely be here in numbers again on Saturday, so I’m sure our fans and players are really looking forward to it."
Joe has hit the ground running this season, following his mid-season move from National League Maidstone United in the January transfer window, having netted in the League and Cup for the Dons. He’s confident of adding to his total again soon and that Wimbledon can put their first defeat of the season in midweek behind them.
“I had a couple of weeks off in the summer and then really got back to work,” said Joe. “I knew I had a lot of work to do, as I’d joined halfway through the season and I was playing catch-up a bit. I feel good now and I’m just hoping that to get the games that will allow me to continue to do well.
“This season we’ve got a far superior and competitive squad to what we had when I joined. Everyone needs to be on their toes and be performing at the top of their game. Kwesi picked up a small knock on Tuesday night, so it will be good to bolster the ranks and get some more attacking support (before the loan window closes).
“We started the season quite well. Tuesday night was disappointing, but we’re looking to get over that quite quickly and we’ve got a fantastic opportunity to do that on Saturday.
“It wasn’t a 3-1 against Walsall - not at all. It’s ridiculous really; I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Two of the goals I wouldn’t describe as flukes, but freak goals that I don’t think I’ve ever seen scored by a team that I’ve been playing for! Being on the receiving end was really harsh, as I thought we played some really good stuff actually - probably some of the best stuff since I’ve been here. Hopefully we can continue to do that.”
The full interview with striker Joe Pigott is available on our iFollow Dons video platform for subscribers.