In-form midfielder Conor Thomas takes centre stage in the AFC Wimbledon edition of R&W. Here’s a taster of what he had to say…
Conor, it has been a frustrating season for you in terms of your limited playing time but you came back into the side against Millwall at the last minute following an injury to Ben Gladwin, so how happy have you been to have been back in the thick of it?
“It is good to be back playing and any footballer finds it hard when they are not playing. It is tough mentally but you’ve just got to keep going and try and do everything right, so I was pleased to be back in against Millwall and it has only been three games but that’s three undefeated now. We’ve now got to win as many games as possible.”
Your last minute winner against Millwall has been talked about a lot, and rightly so, but just how much did it mean to you given the season you’ve had?
“I don’t pop up with too many so it is a bit of a collector’s item! I was obviously delighted for the team and hopefully it turns out to be an important goal in keeping us up because that is the main thing at the end of the day. We just need to all pull together and hopefully that goal will mean something, if we go down then it is obviously irrelevant. We’re just looking to win every game now and it is as simple as that.”
Bearing in mind the fact that your goal against Millwall was your first in five years, it wasn’t a bad strike at all! You must have been happy with that?
“I didn’t even think about it to be honest. It fell to me quite nicely and I managed to slot it home, so hopefully it proves to be a big three points. We will be happy with whoever pops up with the goals, so if I got another one within the next five years then I will be happy! As I said, we just need to win as many games as possible.”
That goal and your performance overall against Millwall has proven to be a bit of a turning point for you personally and you are now a key figure in that midfield, so what is the aim for you now?
“There’s not long left now and I’m not focussing on myself. Everyone needs to be a bit selfless and do what they can for the team given where we are and how the season has panned out. We need to do whatever needs to be done to keep us in the league, so it is important that everyone pulls together which they are and hopefully we will get the wins we need.”
There are just four games left now this season, starting with Friday’s clash against AFC Wimbledon. They, like MK Dons, have nothing really to play for now so what do you expect from them?
“It is going to be a difficult game. Every game is going to be tough at this stage of the season and we played them earlier in the season, it was a draw and it was a tough game there, so we’re not expecting anything less on Friday. They aren’t going to come here and roll over, it isn’t what teams do. We are going to have to be at the top of our game this afternoon in order to get the win.”
