Midfielder Callum Reilly has called upon his Wimbledon team mates to overcome the loss of Marcus Forss quickly and rediscover our momentum, ahead of Saturday’s visit from Peterborough.
“He’s a big loss for us, but we just have to kick on again and hopefully a few other people can step up,” said Callum. "I know ‘Pigs’ (Joe Pigott) has been getting back among the goals again. It’s going to be a tough game.
“We played them earlier in the season and we didn’t really give a great account of ourselves at the start of the game, but then we showed what we could do against them in the second-half. Hopefully we can replicate the second half performance for ninety minutes. I think that’s the key for us – giving an all-round performance for ninety minutes and not just one half. It’s about looking at those details – making sure we’re good from the first minute and not at 45 after half-time.”
Following the blow of Marcus Forss having returned to parent-club Brentford due to a hamstring injury he received at Portsmouth last week, Callum is positive about the impact of several key players returning to full fitness.
“We were getting a bit of momentum with the games and they were coming thick and fast, but it was taking a toll on the bodies with injuries,” said Callum. “It’s nice to be back out there at training with a few players, the likes of Anthony Wordsworth, Scott Wagstaff, Kwesi Appiah and Adam Roscrow. It’s good to have those boys back, so I think we needed that break for that. It was a long time out though before the Portsmouth game and that showed in the first half a little bit.”
These are views that are echoed by Callum’s midfield colleague Shane McLoughlin, as the duo spoke to us in an interview at the training ground.
“I think there was a bit of a build-up to the Portsmouth game,” said Shane. “It was disappointing against Southend, to concede late on, so we’d have probably have rather got that next game over and done with and tried to put it right, but it was a bit of wait after that.
“For me personally, I m looking to get in as many games as I can, perform as well as I can and get as many wins and points as possible to get us up the table.”
“I’m not looking too far ahead,” added Callum. “I think we have nineteen games left and it’ll be gone in a flash. It’s a case of we’re just looking at the next game and trying to make sure we pick up three points on Saturday. It’s important the club stays in this division going into the new ground and I think that’s shared by everyone else here.”
You can hear the pre-match views of Shane McLoughlin and Callum Reilly below, via the link to our official YouTube channel.