AFC Wimbledon manager Neal Ardley has vowed to stick to his attacking principles next season.

Ardley is preparing to lead his side into League One after winning promotion to the third tier for the first time since the club’s formation.

Elevation to the league presents new challenges for the Dons and they will be facing up to teams with bigger budgets and more talented players than they have faced before.

AFC Wimbledon’s success down the years has been built on attractive football and Ardley has continued that tradition in his four years at the helm.

He assembled a team packed with firepower last term as Tom Elliott, Lyle Taylor, Bayo Akinfenwa and Ade Azeez formed one of the strongest forward lines in League Two.

Taylor and Elliott became Ardley’s first-choice pairing as Wimbledon operated with two men up front to terrorise defences up and down the country.

However, the Dons will be the underdogs next season and will be pitting their wits against teams capable of dominating large periods of games.

That has led to a few doubts as to whether Wimbledon could continue to operate in the same way that yielded great success in 2015/16.

Winners: Lyle Taylor of Wimbledon (C) celebrates with his teammates
Gone: Adebayo Akinfenwa has joined Wycombe Wanderers

Despite the increased threat posed to his side, Ardley has revealed he has no intention of flooding the midfield at the expense of one of his strikers.

He said: “I hope we won’t have to change our approach. I like to attack and I want my teams to attack.

“We’ll make sure we’re well-drilled but wherever possible I’d like to play with two up front.

“There’ll be times we go with one and there’ll be times when we change during the game and go with one. I’m very flexible within games.

“I don’t think you can just win games one way - you look at the opposition and the game - but we want to play attacking football and have goalscorers on the pitch.

“I don’t like watching my team when they just sit back. We even played two up front against Liverpool in the FA Cup.”

AFC Wimbledon begin their pre-season fixture schedule with a trip to the coast to face Dover tomorrow night before another seaside clash with Margate on Saturday.

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