Dons doing fine

BIG MISS . . . Wimbledon have been without influential front-man Tom Elliott (right) in recent weeks

WIMBLEDON manager Neal Ardley has taken responsibility for his side's fading away towards the end of this season, but stresses that it has been a "heroic" effort to stay up in Sky Bet League One.

In the last five outings, the club have failed to score a single goal.

That sequence coincides with the loss of 13-goal target man Tom Elliott through injury.

Wimbledon's last outing was a 3-0 thumping at Bradford and ahead of a sell-out last-day clash with Athletic on Sunday (noon kick-off), Ardley has been in reflective mood when it comes to assessing the shortfalls in a campaign that flourised up to the end of October.

"COMPETING"

"The fans who travel all this way (to Bradford) want to see a bit of having a go and competing. But we are well short. That's my fault - the squad is not good enough," said Ardley, a player at the 'old' incarnation of the club when they duelled with Athletic in the Premier League.

"It hasn't been for the second half of the season and we have squeezed the lemon dry a little bit.

"We have to be really on our game to compete at this level and since Christmas and certainly in the last few games, we haven't been at our levels.

"We have missed the physicality of Tom (Elliott), but I have got a big job to do in the summer.

"RE-SHAPE"

"I have clearing out to do and have to re-shape the squad.

"Next season, the league is only going to be tougher.

"I have made some mistakes and I need to get it right in the summer.

"We should all understand it has been a really heroic effort to stay up this season.

"We need a bit of credit for that.

"But it's clear we are short and we need to get better."

While Elliott is likely to still be missing for Athletic's first ever visit to Kingsmeadow, Ardley does at least have at his disposal 14-goal striker Lyle Taylor.

And while he has been used mainly as a substitute this season, ex-Athletic forward Dominic Poleon came off the bench at half-time in the loss at Valley Parade and could be used from the start against his former club, as Wimbledon try to sign off in style by scraping to a top-half finish with three points.