Johnnie Jackson has called for a return to the form that took us into the play-off positions, when the Dons face promotion contenders Mansfield tomorrow.
“What I want to focus on is the performance,” said Johnnie. “We want to get back to looking like what we have been – a really good Wimbledon team that gives everything.
“We went away from that in that opening period on Tuesday and we can’t allow that to happen again. A big response is required from the boys, but I know they’re all desperate to get out there and show what they’re about.
“I know how much the group is hurting. We’ve addressed it and all we can do now is try to put things right in the coming days and in the games ahead after that.”
You can listen below to everything Johnnie had to say after Friday’s final training session.
It’s certainly no easy task ahead of the Dons, as Nigel Clough’s team have only lost twice all season in League Two and have also conceded the least amount of goals.
“They’re hard to beat, as shown by those stats,” said Johnnie. “I think they’ve kept the most clean sheets as well, so they don’t ship a lot of goals. It’s important that we go into this game knowing that we’ve got to fight if we want to get anything from it.
“We had a great game with them earlier on in the season. We probably didn’t come away with what we deserved - which I thought was the three points - but we came away with a point. It could have been different, so we know we can mix it with them.”
The return of Lebanese international forward Omar Bugiel from the Asian Cup is a significant boost to the squad, which is now missing a few key personnel.
“Omar has been training with us during the back end of the week,” added Johnnie. “He got back into the country in midweek after his exploits in the Middle East.
“It’s great to have him back with the group, as he’s a big player for us and a great character around the place. I know the boys are really pleased to see him and he comes back into our thinking.”
As well as Ali Al-Hamadi still being away at the tournament with Iraq and Josh Neufville (back) also ruled out, our defence is somewhat depleted. Ryan Johnson was at the training ground, but on crutches and wearing a protective boot.
“Ryan is going to have a scan to see what the full impact of the injury is. It looks like he’s going to be out for a while, as it’s very sore. He’s going to be unavailable for this one and probably for a little while.”
Huseyin Biler and Paul Kalambayi both begin their suspensions, and the manager is cautious about reintroducing Alex Pearce, with the defender having just started training again after his recovery from injury.
Johnnie added: “It’s probably too soon for Pearcey, he’s only trained one day with the group. He’s been out for a few weeks, so the last thing we want to do is risk him and he suffers a recurrence of that injury.
“He’s looking okay, but we need to be sensible about it because we can’t afford to lose anyone for a lengthy period.”
Photos: Pro Sports Images.
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