Shane McLoughlin: Dons’ Great Escape will help in latest League One run in
Shane McLoughlin is confident that the experiences of last year’s great escape will serve Wimbledon well in their League One run-in.
The Dons are look to return home to Plough Lane as a third tier club.
Wimbledon looked dead and buried at this stage last year, only to defy the odds to stay up.
McLoughlin feels that those experiences can be the catalyst for another season of survival.
“We’ve seen what we did last season with the position we were in – we’re in a far, far better position right now,” said McLoughlin after the stalemate with Bolton.
“I feel confident – I think we all do. We all have confidence and we can all go back to last year. But we’re also wary of teams below us, because we know we’ve done it, so we know teams can do it. We just need to stay focused, keep going and get results.”
Wimbledon are on the verge of a historic and emotional return to their Plough Lane roots, with the well-publicised Plough Lane Bond coming to fruition in stunning fashion.
“Keeping this team in League One would be a good achievement,” said McLoughlin. “We’ve got a young squad that’s learning, we’re getting better game by game.
“We want to push to keep this club in League One because the fans deserve it. They’ve built it from the ashes – it’s only fitting that we keep it in the highest league for when we go back there to Plough Lane.”
McLoughlin admitted that their draw with Bolton was a missed opportunity to strengthen their prospects of staying up.
“It’s definitely two points lost,” he said. “You could see that we were going for it, trying to kind of pin them down in there and get us up.
“We wanted to get wins back to back – but if you can’t win it then you definitely can’t lose it.
“We had a lot of set-pieces, we had some chances, but it just seemed like one of those days where it wasn’t going to drop for us. We had the goal, which we’ve watched it back and he’s definitely onside [Kwesi Appiah being ruled offside].”