Glyn Hodges is likely to be without several first-teamers for the Emirates FA Cup tie against Doncaster Rovers, but he believes Wimbledon are still capable of reaching the next round.
Marcus Forss is not permitted by his parent club Brentford to play in the cup and Ryan Delaney has been ruled out with the ankle injury that he suffered against Lincoln City. Glyn will check on the fitness of Anthony Wordsworth (calf) and Max Sanders (quad) before selecting his squad, but Will Nightingale (hip), Michael Folivi (groin), Rod McDonald (knee) and Adam Roscrow (thigh) are all still out.
“Will and Ryan are out and Rod is not quite fit enough,” said Glyn. “We are struggling up front as Michael and Adam are still injured. Marcus Forss is not allowed to play and unfortunately Tommy Wood, Jack Rudoni and Ayoub Assal all played in the FA Cup for their loan clubs so they cannot play. Hopefully, Max and Woody might be available. Whether one or two of them make it, I don’t know, but we could be looking deeper into the squad.”
Callum Riley has made good progress after a groin injury and he could be in contention for the squad.
Despite the injuries and unavailability, Glyn is looking forward to an opportunity to extend Wimbledon’s impressive home form with The Dons having won three and drawn one from the last four in all competitions.
“Doncaster are a good footballing side and their position is probably not a true reflection on their team and their squad,” said Glyn. “I think they will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. We know what they are about, they get on the ball and play. I knew Darren Moore from my time at Stoke when I was working with the Under-23s and he was at West Brom. We know what we are up against and we are looking forward to it.
“We are positive, we are looking forward to it, and we want to win the game. The team that will start the game will be more than capable of getting the result and more than capable of putting a run together. Not many people are disgruntled as due to the run of games we’ve had they’ve not been knocking on my door saying that they should be playing, but the opportunities will be there in the next couple of games to see if they can grasp the opportunities.”
Look out soon for a full interview with Glyn ahead of Doncaster.