Jake Reeves is no stranger to the twists and turns of the race for the Sky Bet League Two play-offs and with two games to go, his view is clear - it’s not over yet.
With a trip to Tranmere Rovers tomorrow and a home game against Walsall on the final day of the season, Wimbledon are four points off seventh place.
Without doubt we will need to pick up maximum points in the final two to stand a chance of making the play-offs against the odds, but Jake still believes anything can happen, particularly with so many sides having a lot to play for.
Here our captain provides his honest assessment of his third spell with the Club so far, speaks of his love for our fans, his delight at seeing Omar Bugiel sign a new contract and offers an insight into our style of play.
Watch and read the full interview with Reevesy below!
How are you feeling heading into the final two games of the season?
We’re excited. We saw the results the other night, we know we’ve still got a chance. We know it’s not in our hands but pressure does things to other teams. We can only concentrate on getting maximum points from the next two games.
I’d like to say on behalf of all the players, thank you for all of the travelling support – and all of the support at home as well obviously – but particularly the travelling support, it makes a huge difference when we play away from home. We’re going to need that again on Saturday, we know what we need to do – we need to get three points, put pressure on other teams and hopefully set up a cup final on the last day.
The Wimbledon fans have known you for such a long time. How has it been to reconnect with them?
It’s been seamless. It feels like I never really went away. I came back in and slotted into my role. Becoming captain brings you even closer to the fans because you’re doing more interviews and talking to more people about the Club. You can’t help but feel the love and the passion from them.
How have you found the season from a personal perspective?
On a personal note I think it’s been a good season. It’s a shame we’re not a couple more points higher but like I said there’s still a chance, so we have to keep pushing.
You guys as players are big believers in the style of play that Johnnie has implemented. Could you explain to fans, from your perspective, what our style is?
I’ve always said that certain clubs have certain styles. When you come away from that and try a different style, it can maybe be more detrimental to you because the fans aren’t quite in-tune and maybe you don’t get that connection with people.
We know what we want to see at this club. We want to see chances, we want to see balls flashed across the box, we want to see final third entries and we want to be up in their half. We don’t want to mess around with it too much in terms of build-up play. If we do build-up – which we did earlier in the season when pitches were better – we still played quick and through the lines, we didn’t mess around like other teams do, having 10 to 12 passes in their own half. So I’d say our style of play is about getting in peoples’ faces and making life difficult for them by imposing ourselves.
How pleased were you to see Omar commit his future to the Club?
Amazing. On a personal level he’s a very good friend of mine, so it was nice to see that he’s staying. He’s so good and so important for what he does for the team in his role. He does a lot more than a typical normal striker would do. For the Club it’s a great bit of business.
How has it been to relive the experience of being a Wimbledon player again?
Some people always say that sometimes you shouldn’t go back, particularly after leaving on such a high, which is what I was lucky enough to do. But for me that never came into my head, it was never a problem, I never thought anything would go wrong when I came back. You always back yourself and your own abilities.
I’m a bit older now and a different player. I’ve been given the huge honour of being captain. I played under some great captains, I always looked up to Barry Fuller when I was here, he was amazing for us, so if I can be like him I’ll be doing well.
You’ll be heading up on the coach to Tranmere after training today. How do you relax on the journey up?
Coffee! I like to stay chilled and relaxed. We take Uno cards with us, stuff like that. You get good at talking a lot of nonsense really! You have to find things to pass the time well, so a good bit of banter on the coach always helps.
PICS: Pro Sports Images
