Johnnie Jackson offered an optimistic view on Wimbledon’s potential transfer business ahead of tonight’s Bristol Street Motors Trophy tie against Oxford United.
The Dons have so far seen Charlie Lakin return to Burton Albion following the expiry of his loan deal, whilst Will Nightingale has seen his temporary deal extended with Ross County in Scotland. Ryan McLean and Morgan Williams are back following their respective loans, whilst Ali Al-Hamadi and Omar Bugiel are away on international duty.
Of course the main aim this month is to keep the nucleus of the squad we have together – but as Johnnie alludes to, things are moving all the time, with the possibility of arrivals on the agenda.
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“There’s a lot of conversations going on, there’s a lot of plates spinning,” he explained. “We are actively pursuing some exciting targets. January is a mad window, there’s things moving all the time and stuff coming up regularly.
“Andy Thorn has been down here with us, we’ve had a lot of recruitment meetings over the last few days. With the budget restraints we’re under, we can’t hand pick whoever we want. We have some good names on lists, we just need things to fall right for us. We won’t do anything for the sake of it.
“With some of the boys being away with their countries, it makes us a little thin on the ground. But they are coming back, it’s not like we won’t see them again, in a few weeks they’ll be back with us and it’ll be a boost.”
In the cases of Mclean and Williams, tonight’s match offers an opportunity to break back into the fold following periods away on loan. “They’ll both come back into the reckoning,” said Johnnie. They’ve both played for us in the competition before. It’s good to have two fresh options.”
However both Josh Neufville and Alex Pearce will not be involved, after picking up injuries – the extent of both are yet to be determined.
“Josh is out injured – we’ll know more about the extent of it later this week. Pearcey had a scan yesterday, we're awaiting news.”
Our side has already proved that we can be more than a match for Sky Bet League One opposition, having notched 5-2 and 5-1 scorelines against both Portsmouth and Cheltenham Town respectively.
With this in mind our manager feels we have every chance of gaining a positive result this evening against an Oxford side who were dealt a heavy defeat in the Emirates FA Cup on Saturday.
“They will be looking to bounce back, to put things right. With where they are in the league, they may have one eye on that. It’s hard to second guess these games really.
“I look back to the Portsmouth game and it was difficult to think about how strong they were going to go. Whatever team Oxford put out, I’m sure they’ll be looking to win but so will we. We’ve proved it against other League One teams – we’re up for the challenge.”
Please note that our manager will tonight serve the first of a two-match suspension from the touchline, after his dismissal at the Crawley game.
Due to a club admin error, the previous touchline ban that Johnnie served for the Sutton home game was deemed to be invalid.
The second match of Johnnie’s suspension will be at the Wrexham game on Saturday.
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