Summer signing Scott Wagstaff has been quick to establish himself as a favourite with Wimbledon fans and he’s determined to repay their faith and that of Neal Ardley.
“The fans have been brilliant with me since I’ve come in,” said Scott, who arrived from Gilingham, in an interview with our premium iFollow Dons channel. “We had a chat with them after the Scunthorpe game and they are right behind us.
“That’s the thing I like about the club. It’s such a family-orientated club and they really are with you and I think the players appreciate that as well. Hopefully we can put what we see on the training pitch into the games. We’re trying our best for the fans, it’s a tight-knit club and hopefully we can show that on the weekend.
“All the boys are with the manager. We’ve played well in a lot of games; we just haven’t picked up the results that have warranted that. It’s a results business and we need to get the points on the board now and that’s what we’ll be aiming to do at Accrington.”
Scott feels he has a role in the dressing room to help the younger members of Neal’s new-look squad, with the experienced midfielder among the eleven new faces that joined for this campaign. The all-action winger had accumulated well over a couple of hundred games in the Football League, with lengthy spells at Charlton Athletic and Bristol City too, before joining the Dons.
“We’ve got a lot of experienced lads in the dressing room and the young lads need to take that from us,” said Scott. “You’re always going to have bad spells. It’s how you react from that and we need to show a good reaction. Our performances have been okay, but we need to show we’ve become more clinical in front of goal and also at the back as well in keeping clean sheets. If we keep a clean sheet we should be going on to win games.
“We’re all disappointed that we haven’t been scoring a lot more goals, because I think we’ve been creating some good chances and we just need to put the finishing touches to them. It’s difficult, but we’re looking to do our best and hopefully get a few goals in the next game and help the lads at the back as well. If we’re not scoring, it makes their jobs a lot tougher.
“We all need to stick together. The more we get used to each other and the more we play with each other; it’s only going to help us in the long run. Hopefully we can all stay fit and stay out there and see where we go.
Scott is relishing the challenge of tomorrow’s game at last season’s League Two champions. Stanley have only lost once and that was on the opening day to his last club Gillingham.
“We’re going to have to role our sleeves up and it’s going to be similar to the Gillingham game,” said Scott. “Hopefully we can come out on top again, like we did a fortnight ago. I think Accrington have surprised quite a few teams, but we’re going to go there and not be surprised. We need to go there and make sure we’re ready for the challenge ahead of us and get the result we need.
“It’s a massive game for both clubs as you want to get as many points as you can on the board as soon as you can.”