JAKES Reeves was delighted with AFC Wimbledon’s character after they recovered from two goals down to beat Colchester United 4-2 in an opening-day League Two thriller at Plough Lane on Saturday.
Ben Goodliffe scored twice within the first nine minutes to shock the home fans.
But Johnnie Jackson’s hosts roared back with goals from James Ball, Reeves and Matty Stevens’ penalty before the break.
Omar Bugiel made it 4-2 in the 54th minute.
“Sometimes as a club in our history we don’t do things the easiest way, but that’s what makes us great,” Reeves told Dons TV.
“It’s about the character and the quality that we showed,. The boys responded well to the early setback, after we were slow out of the starting blocks. There’s always going to be teething problems when you change a whole style of play and system, that’s natural.
“Last season was more about a shape, a set-up, let teams come on to us and then we’ll press from a certain area. We had Ali [Al-Hamadi] up front, so you could allow for that. When we nicked the ball, he was so quick in behind that it was a good tactic of ours.
“This year, it’s slightly different with the forward line that we’ve got. We want to go and get at teams early on, but as I’ve said there’ll be teething problems, and it was about how we reacted to that and I thought the boys did that brilliantly.”
Reeves added: “Bally has been near on perfect in every pre-season game and in training. He’s showed that with his attitude and application. He could have been a little annoyed about things after last season, but he’s done the right thing by keeping his head down.
“He’s had conversations with the gaffer and said he wants to play a little bit further and higher up the pitch, because he feels that’s his sort of role. The gaffer has given him the opportunity and he’s responded.”
Wimbledon travel to Bromley in the first round of the League Cup on Tuesday.
