By Georgia Garnett
AFC Wimbledon manager Johnnie Jackson said winning promotion to League One would be the highlight of his career, ahead of his side’s League Two play-off final against Walsall on Monday afternoon.
The Dons and the Saddlers finished fourth and fifth in League Two this season, separated by four points.
Whoever wins at Wembley will join Doncaster Rovers, Port Vale and Bradford City in the third tier next season.
“It’s going be a tough game,” Jackson said. “Walsall were flying high most of the season, just narrowly dropped out at the end but they’ve done great to regroup and rally.
“I thought they were very impressive in their semi-final so it’s a tough game coming up, it’s two evenly matched teams that’ll be going at it.
“We’re confident and hopefully we can go there and do the business.”
The teams played two close matches during the season – Walsall edged a 1-0 victory at Plough Lane in November, before the teams drew 1-1 in March.
The match pits the best defence in the league last season against the best attack. The Dons conceded 35 goals while the Saddlers scored 75.
On the other side of the ledgers, Wimbledon scored 56 goals and Walsall conceded 54.
“The goals against don’t lie, I think we’re by far the best in that sense and that’s not taking any glory away from the defenders because in my opinion, in Joe Lewis we’ve probably got the best centre half in the league,” Dons forward Matty Stevens said.
“Then you’ve got Ryan Johnson, Riley [Harbottle] or Oggs [Isaac Ogundere], whoever plays there, then the wing-backs, they’re all great, but we really defend well from the front and that filters down from the team and it shows in the goals against.
“You’re confident when you’ve got that platform of defending, but we’ve also got the players to go score.”
While Jackson has experienced promotions as a player, securing Wimbledon’s spot in League One would be a defining moment in his career.
He said: “I had promotions as a player, but never got to play at Wembley, so the opportunity to lead the team out and hopefully win, if we’re successful, I think that would be the highlight of my career for sure.”
Both Jackson and Stevens believe the preparation for Monday’s match will largely be mental, rather than physical.
Jackson said: “The last three games have been intense, knockout-type football and we’ve managed the occasions great.
“Wembley’s a different type of beast of course, but we’ll prepare hard for Walsall, try and keep the players calm – I want them to enjoy the experience of building up to a game like this and we’ll go down and just give everything we’ve got.”
Stevens added: “I think the only bit different is probably looking after yourself a bit more – all the boys are fit, don’t need no extra field training, so it’s all about looking after yourself.
“Obviously we’re coming out to win and we believe that we’ve got the team to do so.”
Monday’s match kicks off at 3.01pm.
