Giant forward James Hanson is back scoring and keen to play his part in our survival mission, which continues at Scunthorpe tomorrow afternoon.
James is determined to put an injury-hit campaign behind him and chip in with as many goals as possible, as The Dons bid to retain League One status.
“There’s no-one more frustrated than myself at how the season has gone with injuries and so on, but I can’t look back now,” said James in an interview with our iFollow Dons channel. “There’s seven games left and I’ve got to try and help the team in any way I can, whether that’s from the bench or starting.
“The system at the moment is working really well. We’re looking really solid in games and trying to keep clean sheets, so I’ve got no arguments about the starting eleven. If I get on the pitch I’ve just got to make an impact, if I get on as a substitute as I have been doing.
“Michael (Folivi) has come in and been brilliant. He’s shown he can use his physique and can get in behind defences. He’s linked up well with ‘Pigs’ (Joe Pigott), who has continued his great run with five goals in his last seven games which is brilliant for him.”
James came on as a second-half substitute and scored in the 4-2 defeat to Gillingham last Saturday. He followed that up with another headed goal in a 6-0 victory for the development side against Forest Green at Merstham on Tuesday.
“I feel good. I’ve been back about three weeks,” said James. “It’s been good to get minutes in. I’ve come back at a good time as the lads have been flying. It was obviously going to be hard to get back in, but that’s been a good thing for me as I’ve not been rushed back and I’ve got my minutes here and there. I’m looking forward to Saturday and hopefully I can get some more.
“Kwesi (Appiah) and Deji (Oshilaja) are on the way back, Will (Nightingale) missed the game last week and he is back. We’re near enough at full strength now. That’s what you want as a manager and as players we want to be challenging ourselves. You’ve got be pushing the lads that start, if you’re on the bench. We all need to dig in together and get the results.
“At Christmas if people had said we’d have been in this position everyone would have thought that very unlikely, but we’ve got ourselves in the there now. Like ‘Woody’ (Anthony Wordsworth) has been saying to the lads, we’ve given ourselves a chance and the hard work isn’t done yet. We’ve still got to fight and we’ve got seven big games left, including matches against teams in and around us. Hopefully we can take some points off them.”
You can see the full interview with Wimbledon striker James Hanson via the link above, to our iFollow Dons video platform.