Glyn Hodges said that a trio of senior players are pushing for recalls to his squad, as he prepares Wimbledon for the challenge of facing Peterborough United.
A midweek friendly match had been arranged to push the fitness forward of Anthony Wordsworth, Adam Roscrow, and Kwesi Appiah, but this was called off due to the weather. However, Glyn believes that all three are possibilities to be in the squad for Saturday’s home game. Scott Wagstaff serves a one-match suspension for his sending off at Portsmouth on Saturday.
“They’ve had a full week,” said Glyn. “It was disappointing with the weather that Woody, Waggy, Adam, and Kwesi didn’t get a game in earlier this week. They were down to play for 45 minutes, though Waggy might have been able to get an hour in. It wasn’t to be and the weather has been horrendous, so we may try to get another game for them next week. Unfortunately, Waggy, due to the two yellow cards, will not be involved on Saturday. With the other three, if they are looking sharp in training, there may be places for them in the squad.”
Eighteen-year-old midfielder Jack Rudoni has missed out in recent weeks due to a hamstring injury and Glyn added that his fitness will be assessed on Friday.
“Jack did a bit today, but he had to be taken out,” said Glyn. “He did not complete the full training session. Tomorrow will be a light training session so it depends upon how he feels. The only ones that aren’t available at the moment are Will Nightingale and Paul Kalambayi. The others are there and thereabouts. It’s just a case of assessing the players who are close and those that are not quite ready yet.”
With Marcus Forss having returned to Brentford due to injury, Glyn has called on other players to take responsibility in front of goal, instead of there being an over-reliance on Joe Pigott.
“He has scored some good goals, the goal against Portsmouth was fantastic with a great ball by Mitch Pinnock. He has got the knack again, so hopefully he will continue this in the league. We do extra work with him, but it’s not just about Pigs. We haven’t got enough goals from centre halves, so we need to share them about. Hopefully, Pigs can keep scoring, but I feel that there are more goals in us.
“The home form hasn’t been too bad. We’ve done well at home, but we need to pick-up points away from home. Since the Peterborough game away I think we’ve picked up our fair share of points, but we’ve left a lot out there. It’s frustrating that we haven’t got more of a points haul, but there are plenty of games left to make sure we get the right number of points.
“Peterborough are a good side. I’m not sure about Maddison as it looks like he may be signing for Charlton, but their forwards with Toney, Maddison, and Eisa have been the most prolific front three in the league, so they will take some stopping. They’ve got goals galore in the team. I’m not sure Maddison is going to figure, hopefully he doesn’t, but they have quality all around their team. We have to make sure we are up for it and we know what we are doing, so that we can get the right result.”
After the Man of the Match presentation on Saturday there will be a meeting about the Plough Lane Bond scheme and a Q&A in the Main Bar. This bond is going to be absolutely crucial to our chances of completing the stadium construction on time, so please come along to hear more about it and ask the team who have set it up any questions.
Terrace tickets are available in advance to watch The Dons take on Peterborough. Buy in advance from our online ticket shop.