Wimbledon set to get players back for Sixfields trip as Jackson assesses Cobblers challenge

A sickness bug swept through the Dons camp last week and impacted several players before and during their 0-0 draw with Mansfield Town, but Jackson believes they are over the worst of it. On top of that, he could also have players back from injury, including top scorer Matty Stevens.

“It looks like we’ll have a few back,” said Jackson. “Matty trained a couple of days this week and Hacks (Antwoine Hackford) has done a little bit on the pitch. Sas [Aron Sasu] is probably a little further behind, but hopefully we can get them boys involved, whether that's a role to play from the bench.

“Certainly it's just good to have them back in training, which gives us confidence that before too long they can be involved. Everyone else has come through fine from Mansfield.”

After winning promotion via the League Two play-offs last season, Wimbledon made a surprisingly quick start to the campaign, however they are without a win in their last six league games and sit a three points and four places above Cobblers in the table.

On facing Cobblers, Jackson added: “They had a really close game against Peterborough. They went down to 10 men quite early, which didn't help, but they were still very much in the game.

“I think they're a good team. They're certainly working hard for each other, running. You can see how hard they're working and making it difficult for the opposition. Even with 10 men against a good Peterborough team, they're in there fighting until the end. They certainly won’t make it easy for us.

“We know we're in for a tough test going there, but I'm trying to focus on us and the improvements we need to make and having that solid base and always looking at the opposition and looking at ways that you can try and hurt them.

“That's what we'll focus on. We'll focus on us, but obviously, we know it's a difficult game.”