Wanderers Head Coach Steven Schumacher feels that his side can go into Saturday’s fixture away at AFC Wimbledon with “confidence and belief” after a run of three wins in their last four Sky Bet League One games.
The Whites climbed up to third in the table following back-to-back 2-1 home wins over Burton Albion and Leyton Orient, which kept the momentum going after a derby day triumph at Wigan Athletic and a valuable point at Stevenage.
Attention now turns to a visit to Plough Lane where Johnnie Jackson’s Dons await Wanderers in South-West London.
Schumacher is wary of the threat that Wimbledon can pose, but he has confidence in his side’s capabilities to earn a positive result.
Previewing the game, Schumacher told Wanderers TV: “It’s another League One test that’s going to be difficult. They had their game called off on Tuesday, so they are going to be nice and fresh. We played a difficult game and won it late on, so we go into it with confidence.
“We’ve got 10 points out of the last 12 available and Saturday gives us an opportunity to go and get three points down there at a place which isn’t easy to play, but if we play to the level that we can do, we’re more than capable of getting a result.
“We won our second to last away game at Wigan, we picked up a point at Stevenage which is a difficult place to go, we go into this away game with confidence and belief.
“December and January is never an easy period, it’s always difficult, there’s loads of games in the schedule, there’s injuries that can occur, there’s the disruption of the transfer window thrown into the mix, there’s some players who have been in the squad for three or four months that haven’t really featured that start to get a little bit down, so there’s loads of things to try and manage.
“Therefore, sometimes performances can be affected but results haven’t been affected that badly, we’ve dropped points in areas we didn’t really want to, which again in a long season is going to happen, but if we look at the December and January league points, even though it hasn’t been fluent bit we’re still in a good position, we’re third in the league with 17 games left to play, so it’s all positive and for me, it’s something to look forward to.
“I believe in this group, I’ve said to them all along that I think we’ve got enough in the squad to mount a serious challenge to get promoted this year, and we’re still in the mix and long may that continue.”
Rob Apter and Corey Blackett-Taylor are both eligible to make their debuts this weekend having signed loan deals from Charlton Athletic and Derby County respectively, which the Head Coach describes as a "real plus."
Schumacher continued: “They’ve got good Championship pedigree and League One experience, Corey has experience of being promoted out of this division, Rob played really well last year in this division, so it’s a real plus for us.”
Friday marked one year since Schumacher's appointment at Wanderers, and he is pleased with the progress made by his squad.
He added: “I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been a good journey so far, the first six months is probably figuring out what you’ve got and what you need, what you’ve got in the building and how you want to improve, and the second objective is to get cracking, which is what the objective is, to try and get promoted.
“I’ve really enjoyed it. This season has been a good start, we’re sitting in third position at the end of January, so we are in a stronger league position than when we came in, so that’s progress. We’re enjoying it and we’re in a good spot.”
Watch Steven’s pre-match interview in full by clicking here!