‘Don’t write us off’ – Alex Woodyard tells those already sending AFC Wimbledon down

BY EDMUND BRACK

Alex Woodyard has opened up on the “tough” season AFC Wimbledon have experienced but believes that the squad have demonstrated that they have the fight to survive the drop from League One.

The Dons find themselves languishing in the bottom four of the third tier and are on a 24-game winless run in all competitions that stretches back to early December.

However, since Mark Bowen replaced Mark Robinson as manager following the 1-0 loss at home to Cambridge United, they have picked up two draws against Charlton Athletic and Milton Keynes.

There are four games remaining in League One, including two fixtures which could define their season against sides around them in the table, for the Dons to close the gap to the teams above them and secure safety.

“I do get that feeling that people are writing us off, and that’s fine, but it’s just a three-point gap at the end of the day,” the 28-year-old Wimbledon captain told the South London Press.

“There are four games to play, so we have to show fight and courage, but I have never doubted that we won’t get the job done.

“We should have easily taken more from the last three games than we probably have.

“Sometimes when you’re down there, you’re fighting, and you’re hoping for a little bit of luck, it does go against you – that’s just the position we’re in.

“You can’t moan. At the end of the day, we have had three games and not taken as many points as we would have liked.

“We haven’t been rewarded for our performances, but the most important thing is that the performances are good.

“We have four games to go, and with good and solid performances heading into this final set of fixtures, and off the back of the three good performances we have just had, I believe that will keep us safe.”

Mark Robinson’s departure brought to an end his 18-year stint at the club, with the former head coach holding various roles within the club’s academy before becoming first-team head coach and guiding the Dons to survival last season.

“It has been a shock because Robbo spent a huge amount of time at the football club,” admits Woodyard when asked about Robinson’s departure.

“Especially for the young players, he was a big part of their lives – he spent a great deal of time with them and brought a lot of them through to the first team.

“It was tough for the whole football club, not just for the players, but the staff and the fans too. But we all know what football is like as an industry – it is hard.

“You just have to try and move on. The players are just really focused on keeping the football club in the division.

“We have a great set of lads, and it has actually been quite surprising how positive and level-headed our boys have been since Robbo left.

“It has made my and the senior lads’ jobs that little bit easier. I’m not saying that the performances before weren’t good, but everyone is buying into it, and everyone has that same objective of keeping this club in League One.”

While Halifax Town are the only side to have avoided relegation from its respective league after recording a run of more than 20 games without a win in the 1978-79 season – but that was only after they were re-elected – Woodyard would still be in no mood to celebrate survival.

“For me, I won’t look at it as a positive. Fundamentally, I believe that I speak on behalf of all the players when I say that we never expected and never wanted to be in the position that we’re in.

“We owe it to the football club and the fans to stay in the league. Will we celebrate? Yeah, it will be nice and an achievement, but you celebrate promotions, not staying in the division for me.

“This year has been tough. We have had quite a few injuries, and we lost Ollie Palmer to Wrexham, who was a big part of how the team played.

“But this happens to football teams, and we have to respect the position that we are in as a football club – we haven’t got the biggest budget in the league, and we don’t have as many resources as other teams in this league. There are other teams who shouldn’t be in this division.

“If we can get through it, we will look back and be proud of ourselves. We are where we are for a reason – we can’t run away from the fact that we are fighting for our lives.

“But with the talent on show, we can’t quite believe that we are in this position, but we are. When we manage to stay up, it will be a great learning curve for all of our senior and young players.

“Although the season has not gone how we wanted, there will still be a lot of positives to take from it when we do stay up.”

The Dons travel to already relegated and bottom of the table Crewe Alexandra today, and Woodyard hopes that those recent performances can finally yield the three elusive three points they have been chasing for more than four months.

“It is a game that we’re looking to win – we are only going there, in our minds, to win a game of football.

“Like any game at this level, no game is easy. We know that we are not going to be able just toturn up and win a game of football, because those boys will be fighting for their careers, whether it’s with Crewe next season or trying to find a new deal, or trying to stay in League One or get moves higher up the pyramid. We have got to keep that in mind.

“If we put in the performances that we have shown in the recent three games, then I have no doubt that we can go there and win the game.

“But we are where we are, so we’re not going to just roll up and win the game.

“We have to make sure that, to a player, we are at the top of our game to get the three points.”

Picture: PA