Lyle Taylor insists that his three-match suspension will ultimately benefit AFC Wimbledon as they seek to push up the League Two table.
Taylor received the ban after seeing red for an elbow on Mansfield Town’s Nicky Hunt at the start of September.
And after scoring against Barnet on his second match back for the Dons, the striker is confident he will be a better player for the time out.
“I feel good now, I feel sharper,” said the 25-year-old.
“I think if people could see the amount of running that I did and the way I worked over the three weeks that I was sidelined for, they’d see that I did everything that I could to catch up.
AFC Wimbledon's win over Barnet in pictures:
“I still need to get some minutes in my legs, but that will come with more game time and more goals and more wins for the team.”
The former Scunthorpe United striker opened the goalscoring for the hosts in their 2-0 victory against Martin Allen’s men when he burst through on goal and fired into the far corner.
And although the forward accepts that the lack of game time during September has set him back slightly, he is determined to get back to his best.
He said: “No matter how hard you work, it does have an effect.”
“It’s now important, if I’m playing, to keep running myself into the ground, and then keep topping it up during the week in training.
“That’s just what we have to do. We’ll keep working hard and we’ll keep going.”
