Far from feeling sorry for himself after long-term injury, Will Nightingale has filled the spare time effectively by inspiring the young Dons to victory!
Under-18s manager James Oliver-Pearce was delighted to be assisted on Saturday by a man who came through the academy – and our home-grown defender’s debut in the dug-out ended with a 3-2 win.
We caught up with James in the last few days to find out how his new ‘Assistant’ got on – and there was a glowing report about Will’s first dip into coaching.
“Steve Sallis mentioned about trying to get Will involved with some of the young lads to see how he could support them,” said James. “Will came in and did the analysis with the group on the day before the game. We went through all we expected from Luton and also what we expected from ourselves. On Saturday Will was my support on the day – effectively my Assistant! He gave the boys some little nuggets of information pre-match and at half-time, including how they could deal with certain situations. That information, coming from someone who has gone through it all, was really powerful, and the lads reacted really well to it.
“For them to listen to a player – someone they are aspiring to be like – can carry more weight. Will said he was really impressed with the intensity and the quality shown on Saturday, and how the players adjusted to the information provided at half-time.
“Will has got a great manner, and a great empathy with the players. He was really passionate, but at the same time he was really controlled in the way that he spoke to the boys. He couldn’t speak highly enough of all the lads. Hopefully, it’s something that Will continues to do as it keeps him busy during his time out and it gives him experience of another side of the game that he perhaps doesn’t get with the first-team. With the youth team there are lots of opportunities for support, and it’s hugely appreciated as well.”
Will’s assistance is also timely as the young Dons prepare for next Tuesday’s FA Youth Cup tie at home to Woking. Asked about the qualities of this season’s squad – the young Dons are top-of-the-table and unbeaten – James said: “The biggest thing I can say about this group is that they are really together. They really celebrate each other’s successes. Aaron Jones and Reuben Mason had their first games back on Saturday – and everyone celebrated that with them. The boys are always lively, they always have an in-joke going on, and they are quite happy to tell some of the first-teamers that they can beat them at table tennis!
“They are performing on the pitch. We’ve had nine competitive matches this season and we’ve won every game since the opening day. We’ve got a semi-final of the Youth Alliance Cup coming up, as well as the FA Youth Cup. The squad have scored a lot of goals, and our goal difference is plus-nine better than the team in second, so they are exciting, but they are also defending well, which is great. Ultimately, we just want to see how much that they progress by the end of the season, and hopefully they will get experience of men’s football, whether that be out on loan or with our first-team.
“I do honesty believe that the results have gone their way because of the camaraderie that they’ve got within the group. It’s not all been plain sailing and they’ve had to face adversity at certain points: we were 1-0 down in the quarter-finals of the cup, 2-0 behind after eight minutes in a league game following a long journey. They got themselves together to come through, which was really pleasing. Ultimately, we want these boys to have a personality that we as a club expect, but also the characteristics that the fans associate with them as Wimbledon players.”
You can cheer on the young Dons at the Cherry Red Records Stadium next Tuesday. See our previous announcement for ticket details.