Downes encouraged by AFC Wimbledon revival
Posted Sunday, December 30, 2018 by PA
Wally Downes is heading into the new year with confidence that his AFC Wimbledon side are moving in the right direction following their 0-0 draw with Blackpool.
Despite dropping to second-bottom in League One, the Dons followed up wins over Wycombe and Plymouth with a point against Terry McPhillips’ play-off chasing Tangerines.
Downes believes that defensive solidity is one of the all-important building blocks that his team must put in place if they’re to steer clear of relegation danger in 2019 and the Wimbledon manager liked what he saw against Blackpool.
He said: “Good sides are built from the back.
“If your defenders are keeping clean sheets, it frees up your creative players to take more risks, knowing that the defence are going to be solid behind them.
“We took our chances in the two previous games and set up a nine-point week, and if you are getting nine points in a week, that’s promotion form, but we couldn’t manage that, so we’ve gone for the next best thing, which is seven points and clean sheet.
“We can take great heart from the Christmas period and hopefully we move on going into the new year.”
Jake Jervis and Kwesi Appiah went close to breaking the deadlock while defender Terell Thomas also hit the crossbar.
At the other end, Armand Gnanduillet just failed to make contact with a Jay Spearing cross as the goal gaped.
Downes added: “Perhaps we could have taken some of the opportunities we created. They are a good side. They are just outside of the play-offs.
“It’s about gauging improvement. It’s the first clean sheet that we’ve managed under me, so that’s a plus for us.”
Blackpool boss McPhillips, whose team now find themselves eight points outside of the top six, felt his side could have taken all three points.
But he wasn’t surprised to see Wimbledon purr under their new boss Downes, who took over at Kingsmeadow at the start of December.
He said: “I thought we had the better of the chances but they had their moments and our keeper [Mark Howard] had to make some saves.
“An entertaining 0-0. A clean sheet is a positive but if we want to win games, we have to start scoring goals.
“We lacked a bit of quality – not for the want of trying.
“One or two weren’t quite on it but we played some good stuff when we got it down and played, and we created the best chances.
“Wally has done a great job since he’s come in. They are buzzing so we knew we had to match their fight. It was always a scrap. They are relentless with sticking it on you.”
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