By Rob Cornell
New goalkeeper Tom King believes Wimbledon’s preparations are bang on target, with the big kick-off in League One looming.
“I think we’re all ready for the season now,” said Tom, in an interview with our premium iFollow Dons channel. “We’ll use these last two games against Havant and Boreham Wood to just fine-tune a few elements and set off on that bus on Friday up to Fleetwood raring to go!
“I think fitness wise we’re exactly where we want to be. I think all the boys are now in tune with the shape and the tactics with how the manager wants us to play. You want to develop a winning habit from the get-go. Every game you want to go out to win. We’ve only lost one game (a last-minute 1-0 defeat to QPR), which I’ve held my hands up for in the dressing room. The boys appreciated the apology and we move on from there. I’ll do everything I can to make it up to them and we move on now to the last two games, looking to finish stronger before we head off to Fleetwood.”
Tom, on a season-long loan from Millwall, completed another 90 minutes between the sticks in the 2-1 victory over Premier League Brighton and Hove Albion at the weekend.
“The boys worked extremely hard, both on and off the ball against Brighton,” said Tom. “We limited them to little or no opportunities. When there were chances luckily I was there behind the boys to dig them out, which I’m sure they’ll do for me if called upon over the coming weeks. We worked extremely hard on defensive shape during the training camp in South Wales. I think that really showed out there on Saturday.”
Tom has found the transition into Wimbledon’s backline a relatively smooth one over the past month, made easier with the help of his new team mates.
“It’s been brilliant,” said Tom. “Will (Nightingale) has done extremely well and new signing Terell (Thomas) is a bright prospect. Working with Deji has been a laugh! He’s even come on leaps and bounds since the day I walked through the door and developing a relationship with Will and Deji is vital. Working with Meadesy and Tennai (Watson) has been a pleasure too; they make my job a lot easier. Hopefully, when they are not quite at it, I can back them up.
“Joe (McDonnell) and Nik (Tzanev) have been fantastic with me. It’s very easy as a goalkeeper to become very negative when you are not in the team, or it looks like there is going to be a new keeper coming in. They’ve been extremely positive with me, which I can only thank them for. “Bayzo” (Goalkeeper Coach) has been terrific and we’ve had many chats, both on and off the field, to how we can move forward, improve and develop for the start of the season.”