Top scorer Joe Pigott believes the bond between players and fans has strengthened again, as The Dons survival bid continues at one of his former clubs on Saturday.
Wimbledon head to Roots Hall to face Southend, who Joe scored at Wembley for and ultimately helped The Shrimpers clinch promotion in the 2015 League Two play-off final against Wycombe. This weekend though, he’ll be aiming to help The Dons to a third successive victory in the battle to beat the drop.
“You couldn’t ask for more with back-to-back wins,” said Joe after he converted an 87th minute winner from the penalty spot against Peterborough. “We’ve just got to carry the momentum on now into Saturday. There’s a real chance we can do this. We believed it before in the dressing room, but I think the fans will start to believe it now as well.
“The bond between players and supporters is back, massively. At home this year we have been really poor and to get back-to-back wins is brilliant for the fans. We’ve got to finish the season as well as we can, especially at home. Going away is much tougher, but we really need to build on our home form as we have done on this occasion.
“It’s really started with the clean sheets. We’ve conceded goals this year, but we give ourselves a much better chance if we go into the second-half with a clean sheet and try and nick a goal - which we've done against Peterborough.
“I’m looking forward to Southend. It’ll be good to see a few old faces. They are having a bit of a tough time at the moment, but hopefully we can get the three points there."
Joe kept his cool and his concentration in the build-up to the penalty shortly before the end of the game. Peterborough’s Rhys Bennett was sent off following a foul in the area on game-changing substitute Dylan Connolly.
“It was a long time to wait after the foul was given, I just concentrated,” said Joe after notching his twelfth goal of this campaign. “I knew where I was going to aim for, but I saw their keeper dive early so that’s why I put it in the other corner. It was quite central. I was really concentrating and it paid off.
“We were happy to let their centre-halves have the ball. We tried to press when the ball was played through. We minimised them to not many chances. I felt we did really well in that sense.”
You can see the full interview with Wimbledon striker Joe Pigott via the link above to our iFollow Dons video platform.