Rob Cornell
Liam Trotter is confident of adding to his goal tally for the year, as he bids to help pull AFC Wimbledon clear from the League One drop zone.
The summer addition from Bolton Wanderers was one of the key players behind Wimbledon's revival last month, as he netted the opening goals in home wins against Southend and Blackpool. On Tuesday night, his powerful, deflected shot led to an own goal that got Neal Ardley's men back on level terms at Bury – only to eventually lose out 2-1.
"I'm definitely capable of more," said Liam in an interview for our iFollow Dons premium subscription channel. "I've always thought goals were an important part of my game. In the first half of the season I was in the right areas, but it wasn't quite dropping to me or I wasn't quite getting the chances I wanted.
"I've kept going though and tried to keep getting in the right positions and now they are falling to me I've managed to get a couple. I'll definitely be looking to get more, having set myself a target, because I feel we all need to get goals. I'll keep plugging away and see if I can get as many as I can – the same as every other player really."
While Liam is eager to make amends for the performance at Gigg Lane against the bottom of the table side in midweek, he and the rest of the side remain calm about Wimbledon's current position in the table – just above tomorrow's visitors Northampton and the relegation area.
"There's no room for alarm bells. Alarm bells and being frantic isn't going to help our situation. Losing our composure and panicking will not help this situation. What we have to do is focus, concentrate, hit targets and stay composed whilst doing that.
"I'm not saying we should be laid back and forget where we are in the league and forget that these games are important, but every game is as important as the next one and as the ones at the very beginning of the season. It's a case of getting back to knowing what we can do and we know we're good enough to stay and kick on in this league. Sometimes we haven't shown it and other times we have, it's now just all about consistently trying to show that."
"The 4-0 win at Bradford was a great performance from the team – it was probably our most complete performance and the score line showed that. We're looking to put in that performance again, or as close to it, against Northampton and over the coming weeks consistently until the end of the season."
Liam's contribution, as part of a three-man central midfield, isn't the only factor to have gone unnoticed recently. Tom Soares has earned praise from his team-mates for his work in the middle, while this week colleague Jimmy Abdou was among the nominees for PFA Player of the Month for League One in January.
"It works well," said Liam. "All three of us are experienced players; we've played a lot of league games between us. We're all big, athletic lads and you can see that in a lot of games where we've played well – we've overrun teams. We've got a good dynamic in there, but we've also got some players in there who aren't playing right now, who could come into that midfield and add to it.
"Young Anthony (Hartigan) has done really well in the games that he's played and I know he's chomping at the bit and ready to come in. Deano (Parrett) has just come back and he was playing really well before he got injured, so while me, Tom and Jimmy have been doing really well – we know that there are some players that are ready to come in and add to this team.
"It's extremely important that everyone is ready to be called upon. It's been evident this season, as it was against Southend a few weeks ago, when we had two games in three days and the manager had to change it around. Players like Callum Kennedy and Harry Forrester came in and we played really well on the day and got a good result.
"We've got a lot of good professionals and honest lads here who are working hard in training and ready to come into the team, so we need to put in a better performance, or those players are ready to come in.
The full interview with AFC Wimbledon midfielder Liam Trotter and the pre-match thoughts of manager Neal Ardley, ahead of tomorrow's game against Northampton Town, are available on our iFollow Dons video platform.