TOMORROW will be a case of Addicks reunited on the Plough Lane touchline when AFC Wimbledon host Tranmere in a League Two game.
Rovers’ recently appointed manager Nigel Adkins had a brief spell in charge of Charlton two years ago, with current Dons boss Johnnie Jackson part of his coaching team at The Valley.
In fact it was Jackson who was handed the reins at The Valley following Adkins’ dismissal in October 2021 and now the duo are set to cross swords tomorrow across south London.
Jackson told afcwimbledon.co.uk: “Nigel is someone I know very well, having worked with him at my last club.
“He’ll have his team right at it, set up well and difficult to beat.
“It wasn’t the longest of stints we had together at Charlton, but I learnt a lot off him in a short space of time.
“He stepped away from management for a while, but came back into it.”
Jackson added: “He has so much experience in the game, but hopefully we still have some secrets and something up our sleeve for him.
“I’ve seen the game against Accrington and they played really well that day.
“There’s no ‘gimmes’ in this league. They made a poor start, but with a change of manager it’s had an immediate effect.”
The Wimbledon boss is hoping being back on their own patch will strengthen his side’s chances of building on last weekend’s impressive 3-1 success at Walsall.
“We’re at home and we want to take the game to them,” said Jackson.
“I think we’ve been playing well at home, but the wins haven’t come yet. I think it’s really important, off the back of last week, that we go for back-to-back victories.
“It doesn’t matter where we pick the points up though, we just want to get on a run now and build momentum.
“The way you get up the table is by consolidating.”
The Dons boss will leave it late before deciding whether top scorer James Tilley will feature after missing that Walsall triumph through injury.
Jackson added: “Hopefully he’ll be involved.
“We’ll look at how he’s come through training this week.
“Do we get him back involved? Is he one for the bench?
“That’s a decision closer to kick-off we’ll have to make.
“We were disappointed he had to miss out last week.
“Connor Evans proved to be an able deputy, but Tills has been a really important player for us.”
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