As Johnnie Jackson spoke to the press following AFC Wimbledon’s dramatic 3-2 come-from-behind victory against Harrogate Town, he struggled to wipe the grin off his face.
Since his Plough Lane arrival in the summer, the Dons boss has not had much to smile about with last season’s disappointing League One relegation lingering over the entire club.
Prior to the Rochdale game, Wimbledon had claimed only five wins from 43 games in all competitions yet Josh Davison’s 88th minute winner now means Jackson’s men have taken seven points from their last three games.
The 40-year-old has also had to deal with an injury-ravaged squad for the opening few months of the season, injuries to key players constantly forcing style of play and formation tweaks and leading to a lack of cohesion.
The defence has been hit the hardest, with three starting defenders – Lee Brown, Alex Pearce and Will Nightingale, all currently sidelined adding to a defensive fragility that has seen Wimbledon keep only three clean sheets this term and without one in their last 11 league games.
The absence of these senior squad members has been detrimental to a relatively young and inexperienced group who have had to mature quickly in the midst of a difficult year-and-a-half on the pitch.
Wimbledon’s squad last season was the youngest in the Football League, and, with the average age of this year’s squad only 23, is inevitable the theme of a lack of confidence across last season has spilled over into this one.
Too often, too many of Wimbledon’s young chargers would go missing in games or their heads would drop when things were going against them, much to the ire of their manager.
Speaking after the defeat to Sutton United, Johnnie Jackson said: “I don’t think the players are stepping up in the big moments at the minute.
“It’s one thing doing it on the training pitch Monday to Friday, but you have to have the… what’s the word… the heart, the balls, I guess to be able to step up and do it on a matchday.”
Spending over a decade at Charlton Athletic, naturally Jackson has taken time to settle into his new surroundings, with the manager speaking about attempting to strike a balance between style and substance at Plough Lane.
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“There’s an appetite at the football club for a certain style, we need to feed into that,” Jackson said. “We need to find the balance of when to play and when to be a bit more direct.”
It was never going to be a quick fix at Plough Lane and it’s a situation that demands a lot of patience but what will have pleased Jackson most about the late comeback against Harrogate was the fight his players showed.
Wimbledon controlled the majority of the game and were well worth their half-time lead through Paul Kalambayi’s header before a slow start to the second-half saw them fall behind.
Jackson subsequently made brave, attacking substitutions and went more direct with his players embracing the adversity, rather than letting it defeat them as so often has been the case in the past.
When asked about the battling comeback, Jackson beamed: “Well they showed balls didn’t they! That’s what we ask for. They ask it from each other.”
When trailing 2-1, the home crowd were becoming restless, anxiety was growing and the pressure on Jackson would have increased had the result remained the same.
Yet the late goals from Courtney Senior and Davison not only shows the players are still playing for the manager but feels like a turning point in their season.
The squad have clearly bought into what the young coach is trying to do and showed a character and doggedness that has previously been absent.
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On the potential significance of the result, Jackson added: “I think we’ve already had our turning moment.
“The Sutton game was a real low and we used it as a reset. We looked at this week and wanted it to be a positive week, and with seven points from nine games, I think we’ve done that.”
This young side may have been dented and battered, both figuratively and physically, over the last year or so but with a bit of good fortune and players staying clear of injuries, they have the ability to make a Play-Off run.
Either way, it is clear from their latest win that they are not going to give up on their manager any time soon.