Winger's drive to do better ahead of Stevenage

George Francomb believes he’s in much better shape to produce his best form this season after working hard on his fitness with Jason Moriarty.

The winger admitted he struggled for form and fitness during 2013/14, despite a strong end to last season that earned Wimbledon’s Young Player of the Year award.

However, Francomb has already got off the mark by scoring the winner at Southend and he is determined to be more consistent this season.

Speaking to Dons Player ahead of tomorrow’s match against Stevenage, Francomb said: “The first half of last season was bad for me because I struggled for fitness and was therefore in and out of the team. But I did a lot of fitness work around the midway point of last season with our Sports Scientist Jason Moriarty and I ended up finishing the season quite strong with a few goals.

“I’ve come back in better shape than last year, though it’s still early days in the season and I can get fitter. I’ve managed to get a goal under my belt in the first four games and I’m happy with that. I just need to capitalise on this start and keep moving forward. The manager and Jason are working hard on the sports science side of the game and it’s a much more professional approach than when I first joined two years ago.”

Francomb added that Wimbledon’s players must show they’ve learned lessons from last Saturday’s home defeat against Hartlepool when Stevenage visit tomorrow.

“We were so comfortable until we conceded that early goal in the second half against Hartlepool,” Francomb said. “We should have had more goals by that point, but could have been stronger mentally. We needed to regroup and be confident that we could get another couple of goals, but we crumbled and lost our way for 25 minutes, which cost us the game.

“The first-half was one of the best halves of football that we’ve produced since I’ve been here and we must go into the Stevenage match with the same confidence and energy. If we can start like that again then we will make sure that we’ve learned from our mistakes last week. We’ve got more than enough good players to cause damage against teams this season.”

The full interview with George Francomb featured on Dons Player, along with Neal Ardley’s update ahead of Stevenage.