Wally Downes leads his AFC Wimbledon side to The Valley this weekend on the back of a positive result at Rochdale.

Since replacing Neal Ardley a little over a week ago Downes side will be buoyed by the point rescued at home in the 1-1 draw and will arrive needing a result.

Scott Wagstaff will be returning looking to get one over his former side and sitting one from bottom, Downes’s men need all the points they can get to close the six-point gap to safety.

Charlton’s head-to-head (with AFC Wimbledon):

PL:4 W:1 D:1 L:2

Wimbledon (League) form guide:

PL:21 W:4 D:3 L:14

Last six results: LLLWLD

AFC Wimbledon’s Star Man:

 

In a poor season with few goals scored, Wally Downes will be looking to Mitchell Pinnock to provide the spark to ignite the Dons season.

The 23-year-old joined from National League side Dover Athletic. He’s spent the majority of his time in lower league football but this rough diamond is starting to show why the Dons invested in the (cliché) tricky winger.

He’s a good athlete, tall, he gets around the pitch and he’s versatile.

Playing off the right and off the left his main attribute is his crossing ability, capable of beating a man and standing the ball up for Joe Piggott or James Hanson, Bowyer’s defence will need to be alert.

Recently he has started adding goals to his name which is another added bonus for the Dons.

Pinnock was vital in the result last week and Downes will be hoping for more of the same from the winger.

The Manager:

 

Wally Downes affinity with Wimbledon goes back to the ‘Crazy Gang’ days and he’ll insert more passion in to the players than they showed under Ardley, who’s time at the club albeit successful in parts, ran its course. Downes won’t be afraid to pelt a few of his player or hook them if they aren’t pulling their weight.

Downes said he’ll be ready for the Charlton game after having his first full week with his new side.

“We’ll go into the Charlton game and they’ll be no excuses for us,” said Downes.

“The players showed me what they can do in the Rochdale game, we’ve been able to work on the footballing side of things with an unbroken week. Coming towards the end of this week, it’s more Charlton specific. In the first part of this week we worked on our shape and how we want to approach the game. Now we get onto showing our players the strengths and weaknesses that Charlton have and they are very sharp up front.”