Mark Robinson believes that Anthony Hartigan will continue to flourish in a Dons shirt after his impressive start to the new season.
The 21-year-old midfielder spent time on loan at Newport County last season, but Robbo doesn’t reckon that was a contributory factor to his rejuvenation.
“People have said to me, ‘is it because of his loan spell?’ I don’t really see it like that if I’m being completely honest. I don’t know why a loan spell in League Two when you’ve played over 100 games in League One would make you come back a better player! I just think he is being Anthony Hartigan. He’s being allowed to make his own decisions.
“When he gets things wrong he will get the support that’s needed. I still think there’s a lot more to come from him. It’s good to see him more like his old self and like he was when he broke into the squad all those years ago, and everyone was hugely excited about him. For some reason, we seem to look at the player when he underperforms. I don’t think it’s got anything to do with the player, there is loads more to come from him and hopefully that’s what we will see."
In his interview ahead of the match versus Gillingham at Plough Lane on Tuesday, Robbo spoke enthusiastically about overachieving this season.
“When I started here we were training in parks with coats for goals. It didn’t stop us beating academies back then. It’s part of what we are about, but things have stepped up a lot here professionally, players have got more than they’ve ever got. The recruitment guys have been fantastic in their work, and we played our part in terms of the presentations to land the players that we’ve got – we went to real lengths to get them. As young as it is, I think that’s why we’ve managed to build the squad that we’ve got. We can have a really exciting season.”
If you missed Robbo's full update from the training ground ahead of the match versus Gills, you can listen to it by clicking on the link below.