AFC Wimbledon will on Saturday face an in-form Peterborough side making a big push for promotion, but Mark Robinson wants our players to be bold in their approach and to embrace the challenge.
Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson has successfully reshaped his side’s attacking threat with Jonson Clarke-Harris having struck 19 goals so far this season after the departure of Ivan Toney to Brentford. Posh head into Saturday’s game on the back of three successive victories and aiming to move into the automatic promotion places. However, the Dons did upset the odds with a win versus Peterborough at Plough Lane in December, and our newly appointed Head Coach Mark Robinson guided Wimbledon to victory in our last away match at Wigan. The picture above shows Joe Pigott striking the winner versus Peterborough at Plough Lane.
Our victory at the DW Stadium two weeks ago was achieved largely thanks to a bold attacking display in the first-half and Robbo wants his players to ‘stamp their authority’ on the match at the Weston Homes Stadium tomorrow.
Below are quotes from both camps, plus stats, and a look at previous meetings between the two clubs:
Mark Robinson
“They are a very good side. We defended really well that night and we got the goals. They are clearly one of the best football sides in the league. If you let them play they can cause you all sorts of problems, so it’s all about us. I couldn’t care less that it’s away from home: we are going to go there and try to stamp our authority on the game. We need to build an identity. Going there and worrying about them is not going to happen. All I am asking the lads to do is to go there and be on the front foot. Let us keep building our identity.
“We know they are a good side, no amount of clips is going to tell me any different, but we have looked at the detail of what is going to cause us problems, and looked at what. Will that work against them? If it doesn’t, how are we going to rectify that? Rob (Tuvey) knows how I work, so he sits in with Goncalo (video analyst). He knows that I don’t want to get engrossed in the opposition. I trust them to give us the detail because accountability is key. We are working on us, but at the same time we are drip-feeding the problems that they could cause us.”
Darren Ferguson
“We are in a good place at the moment, and the longer you keep getting your wins the better it feels and you don’t want to lose a grip on that. You have to understand that you are going to lose games of football, but we have won three out of three. We look confident, we look good physically, and the injury list is okay, so we’ve just got to move onto the next one. We prepare properly, and we’ve prepared correctly for Wimbledon. They had a very good result in their last game, they will be fresh. They know the league well, and they’ve just appointed a permanent manager. He has come from the youth set-up and knows the club very well, so there is real consistency in that. It’s going to be a tough game, I watched the match against Wigan and they played very well.
“We have to be at it. There is no clearer message to our players than, ‘we have dropped points against teams in the lower part of the league and we have to stop that'. Saturday is another example of that and we have to put the foot down now. We have to go up another couple of levels and maintain this consistency. Certainly, we can’t drop the levels that we’ve produced recently."
Previous meetings
Since 2016, the Dons have met Peterborough on 10 occasions, winning four of those matches, and losing just three. Wimbledon have won the last three home matches versus Peterborough with Joe Pigott scoring the winner on each occasion, so we will settle for a similar scenario tomorrow!
Our last visit to Peterborough ended in a gallant 3-2 defeat for the Dons. At 2-0 down at the break, Wimbledon had a mountain to climb, but Mitch Pinnock got a goal back to give the Dons hope. When Mo Eisa struck his second of the match to put Peterborough 3-1 up, the hosts were coasting, but Anthony Wordsworth’s superb strike reduced the arrears. Wimbledon came close to snatching a late point in a match that was the first game for Glyn Hodges as our Interim Manager. Wimbledon’s only win at Peterborough since the club’s reformation was back on 22 October 2016. In a real highlight of Wimbledon’s first season in League One after promotion, Tom Elliott headed home the winner as the Dons made a bright start to life in the higher division. Clip on the link below to watch the highlights from that game.
Team News
Shane McLoughlin is in contention to return at Peterborough after putting a knee injury behind him, but Callum Reilly is out with a hamstring strain. Darren Ferguson reported no fresh injury worries after the 3-1 midweek win at Gillingham. Siriki Dembele impressed in that match after returning from injury as a substitute and he’s in contention to start.
Form Guide
Peterborough WWWLLD
Wimbledon WLLLDL
Last time out
Gillingham 1-3 Peterborough
Wigan 2-3 AFC Wimbledon
Match coverage
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