JOHNNIE Jackson has urged his AFC Wimbledon side to repeat the second-half performance rather than the first against Rotherham United when they face Doncaster Rovers on Saturday aiming for a fifth win in nine League One games this season.
The Dons came back from a 1-0 half-time deficit against the Millers at Plough Lane last weekend, to seal a first win after four successive defeats in all competitions.
“We don’t want to see that first half again, do we?” Jackson said. “The response in the second half showed how we want the team to play.
“The boys recognised it at half-time themselves, everything that they were saying in the changing room – we were just off it. The second half was everything that we want to be.
“But teams just don’t give it up, do they? You have to earn the right. This Doncaster team will be exactly the same. They’re not just going to let you go there and do what you want.
“So you’re going to have to defend at times. You’re going to have to dig in, you have to be disciplined. We have to earn the right to go and play for the spaces to come, to go and play the football that we want to play, but from a good structure.
“There’s been some lessons learnt about how poor it can be if we’re off it, but also how good we can be when we’re really on it as well. So it’s trying to bring that every minute, of every game, which is difficult, of course. That consistency is what we’re striving for.
“We’ve gained some confidence from picking up back-to-back wins, so we’ll be hoping we can do the same on Saturday.”
Jackson said that the style of play he is trying to implement takes time.
“That’s going to evolve constantly throughout the season,” Jackson said.
“We’re never going to have nailed it. I think we’re improving as a team. I think some of the football that we’re playing is really pleasing on the eye at times.
“We’re creating a lot of chances in different ways to what we did last season. But I don’t want to give up the other side of that.
We’ve gone up a level. You expect to probably concede more goals and more chances because you’re playing against better teams with better players. So that’s natural, I suppose. But the team that draws three or four or wins 5-4, gets beat 5-4, that isn’t for me.
“I want to be able to create and score, but without giving up the other end. It’s a constant battle to perfect that – and you never will.
“I think we’re showing signs that we can be both. The second-half against Rotherham gave up very, very little as far as chances and created a load up the other end. That’s a good marker.
“There’s going to be more tests and loads of good teams that we’re going to come up against. We’re never going to quite get there, but we’ll continue to strive for it.”
