My heart won’t take that – Johnnie Jackson reflects on late drama

Posted Sunday, October 30, 2022 by PA

Johnnie Jackson joked that the drama of AFC Wimbledon’s 3-2 win over Harrogate was almost too much to endure.

The Dons went 1-0 up through Paul Kalambayi, but they were 2-1 down after goals from Matty Daly and Rory McArdle.

Courtney Senior equalised for the hosts with six minutes remaining and in the 88th minute, Josh Davison scored the winner.

And after a mixed start to the season for Jackson and his side, the AFC Wimbledon manager admitted the drama might be a bit too stressful for him to handle.

Jackson said: “I just said to the lads I’m hoping to be in this profession for 30 years but if they carry on doing that to me I don’t think my heart will take much longer.

“Fantastic ending to the game, fantastic scenes in the stadium, I think the lads really dug in, there was a moment when we’ve gone behind and you’re thinking we’re probably not going to get what we deserve out of the game.

“The subs that came on, all credit to them, I think they really impacted the game in a positive way which is what you’re asking for when you’re looking to make those changes to try and get something from the game, and they’ve all done great in a real battling team performance.

“I thought Josh Davison was brilliant all afternoon with the legs, the energy that he gives you at the top end of the pitch, when we utilise it we look a threat all the time.”

Harrogate manager Simon Weaver said his side need to be ready to go again after a difficult defeat left them a point off the bottom.

He added: “I feel for the lads, I thought we played some really good football today, it was a vast improvement in terms of the possession-based stuff, the first goal we scored was absolutely fantastic, but we’ve got to pick ourselves up and go again.

“It’s the team that wilts over the period of the season that will go under, but we’re hoping we’ll be the outfit that comes good.

“The frustrating thing about today is we did the harder stuff which is pass it under pressure, even in tight areas we dealt with the ball, and the forwards did it in the second half and that gave us good opportunities to score.

“It’s bitterly disappointing to concede in the manner that we did with a hopeful ball into the box, not dealing with that and misjudging it, and then a long hopeful ball forward from deep not handled, not being compact enough and we haven’t been competitive in the aerial encounter there.”