Neal Ardley wants his AFC Wimbledon players to ‘thrive’ in grudge match against MK Dons

There is certain to be a highly-charged atmosphere when AFC Wimbledon host MK Dons tonight and Neal Ardley wants his players to thrive under the pressure of occasion.

Many view the fixture as one of the fiercest grudge matches in English football and Ardley knows it will be an emotional evening at Kingsmeadow.

Feelings still run deep about the way the old Wimbledon was controversially spirited away to Milton Keynes 15 years ago. Ardley understands the significance of the match and wants his team to embrace it.

“I know how important it is to everyone at the club,” says the Wimbledon manager. “It is a big game. My job is to deal with that in the best way possible and make sure the players do not feel pressure but feel spurred on by it.

“That is not always easy but we did it last season and we want to create that same vibe this season. It will be a very highly-charged game, our fans will make sure of that. We will do our best to put in a performance that gives us the best chance of giving the fans what they want. It will be an emotional night.”

Tonight will be only the second time Wimbledon have ever hosted MK Dons in a match. They won 2-0 in the same fixture last season on an historic night in south London.

Wimbledon made a slow start in League One this season but they secured an impressive win at Blackburn last weekend and Ardley hopes they are moving in the right direction.

“We have faced some challenges,” he says. “We felt we did really well in our recruitment in the summer. There were lots of incomings and outgoings and, although we brought in different types of players in different positions, we felt we had brought in better quality.

“But the season started a little bit up and down and we were struggling to find an identity. Before, when we have had Bayo Akinfenwa and Tom Elliott, we’ve had certain ways to use those players. And we have not got those sorts of players this time around.

“It became a little bit dysfunctional and we lost a little bit of what we are about. I take full responsibility for that. I was trying to put too much build-up play into the team and I actually slowed us down. I listened to what was being said and how the players were feeling, and decided I needed to take the reins off a little bit and get some intensity back into our performances.

“That has turned things a bit in the last couple of games. We should have beaten Gillingham and we then got a fantastic result at Blackburn. It is not saying all is good in the world, but we are trying to make inroads and, hopefully, we can take that work ethic forward.”

Wimbledon have made progress every season since Ardley became boss five years ago, despite operating on a lower budget than most teams at their level.

“Last season we finished 15th in a poor league and the division is stronger this season,” he says. “We have to be realistic and say it is important we stay up and then go from there. You cannot keep expecting to go higher and higher when you are one of the bottom teams.

“We want to keep the identify of what we are doing. We did not show it early on in the season and we need to keep showing that week in, week out.

“We are trying to be a cohesive, hard-working, high-performance team and then let some of the qualities we have shine through. We feel we are athletic and have a lot of pace in the team, so we need to use that.”