Reaction from the Wimbledon manager

Neal Ardley was delighted with the attacking threat that his side showed in an exciting draw against Shrewsbury this afternoon.

Speaking to Dons Player after the 2-2 draw, Neal Ardley said: “We went 1-0 down, but we always had a goal threat, which was something we talked about after last season. It was a great ball in and great movement from Matt Tubbs for our first goal. I thought after the first 20 minutes we were the better team until the last 10-15 minutes. We were the team most likely to score and the save their goalkeeper made to deny Sean Rigg was phenomenal. We pushed and pushed and got ourselves 2-1 up.

“Their equaliser was a typical League 2 goal. Our player got caught ball watching and allowed their player to get around the back. After they scored we were hanging on a bit. They were bigger than us with about four or five players of six-foot plus. We tried to set-up to make sure they did not hurt us from set-pieces, but Jack Smith was left isolatedand we paid the price for that.”

However, Neal added that Wimbledon’s response summed up everything they had been working on during pre-season to become a more effective attacking force.

“I’m learning all the time and I know I’m not the finished article by any stretch of the imagination,” Neal added. “I am trying to come up with a formula that can win us games in League 2 consistently. We feel that we’ve got good players in. We just have to ensure that everyone is on the same page – which we do in training – so that we all know how we are trying to achieve our goals.”

Dons Player subscribers can watch a video interview with Neal Ardley on our premium channel and an interview with Matt Tubbs will follow tomorrow.