NEWS | Smeaton ready to win ugly

Sam Smeaton says the Dons must be prepared to win ugly in the early stages of the 2020 Betfred League One season.

The centre looks set to make his league debut in the game at North Wales Crusaders on Sunday, and believes they have the ability to grind results out.

He said: “It will be tough going in the first month due to the weather conditions and the surfaces not being great, so it’s about getting games ticked off and picking up a few points early on.

“I think it’s the sign of a good team when you can find a way to win without being at your best, it shows that everyone is pulling in the same direction.

“That will be massive for us especially this year with the team we’ve got, to get to where we want to be we have to be able to grind games out.”

After a long pre-season campaign, the former Batley man says the whole squad are looking forward to getting the new campaign underway.

He added: “The boys can’t wait to get started in the league, it’s been a long pre-season and we’ve been preparing for this with all the work we’ve done.

“I think we’re still working on our structure with our best team on the field so that may take a couple of weeks before it fully clicked.”