AFC Wimbledon manager Neal Ardley has hinted he will make a few changes for Tuesday night’s FA Cup replay with York City but maintains the competition is of massive importance.
The Dons and the Minstermen will do it all again at Kingsmeadow after James Shea’s goalkeeping heroics helped keep them in the hat after a 1-1 draw in their first encounter.
Wimbledon have had a punishing schedule with last week’s JPT tie at Bristol City and the weekend victory over Dagenham & Redbridge taking its toll on the squad.
That fixture pile-up may force Ardley to tinker with his starting XI again for the visit of Russ Wilcox’s boys and the Dons chief says he will also have one eye on a trip to Oxford.
Ardley said: “It’s big. I want to win every game. We played Bristol last week and we had the boys in on Monday trying to get the balance right between recovering them for the game and doing a tactical plan for the game. We nailed it but we didn’t get the win. I wanted to win that game.
“York at home is a game that we should think ‘right we’re in good form at home and we need to win’ but I’ve also got to look at the bigger picture and realise we’ve had an unbelievably hectic schedule and I don’t want to get to Oxford at the end of the week and put out players who are dead on their feet.
“It won’t be wholesale changes but if I need to freshen things up and rest one or two then we’ll decide that on Monday. It’s absolutely massive but I’ve got to have faith in people. I thought Ade [Azeez] was excellent at Bristol and I knew that Bayo and Tubbsy could cause problems today [against Dagenham].
“We’ll give them tomorrow off and then they’ll be in on Monday. They will be in early on Tuesday so we come in a bit earlier in the afternoon and we finish off with a pre-match meal. We’ll get the legs back Monday and do loads of recovery strategies. The boys who haven’t played will do a nice intense session. On Tuesday we’ll start going through the game tactically.”
