Neal Ardley insists he is the man to lead AFC Wimbledon to League Two survival.

Dons have three games left to get the single win Ardley believes they need to avoid a disastrous drop into the Blue Square Premier.

Only three weeks ago, on the back of four wins in five games, the Kingsmeadow terraces were full of fans confident of beating the drop.

However, following a trio of 1-0 defeats, that confidence has been replaced with anxiety – something Ardley is keen to eradicate.

Moreover, the boss is adamant the plans put in place when he and Neil Cox took over in October remain the right plans now, six months later.

Ardley said: “I think about the job every minute of every day. The hard part is the initial two hours after a game, when you search from within and you reflect.

“You ask yourself ‘How do I go about the next part?’ but ultimately I feel I am a leader and I am going to lead this group to what they need to do. Whatever happens at the end of the season, it won’t be because I have not thought about it and put a process in place that is the best way for us to do it. The boys believe, and I believe.

“Within every football team there are players who roll their sleeves up, and there are players who look to you for leadership, and I know who they are.

“It is my job to say to those who roll their sleeves up ‘You go out on the pitch and do what you do. The others who need leading, you follow me and we will get there’.”

Since the beginning of the season, Dons have used 44 players – a large portion of which came and left through the revolving door of the loan market.

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However, Ardley is convinced that strict budgets and an injury-ravaged side meant heavy use of the loan system was an essential part of his survival plan from day one.

“After assessing the squad in October, we made a decision about the best way we could go about saving our season and turning it around, and it was an almighty job,” he said.

“There’s no other way of looking at it. We had a load of injuries to key players when I arrived and the stats showed that teams created the most chances against us and finished them off – that hasn’t happened since we came in.

“We had a way of going about it and we have not changed it. “That was the best way we were going to see this season through. “We are nearly there and we will see this through.

“We haven’t become a bad team overnight. After three defeats, when things start closing up again at the bottom, I have to tell the lads to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Gary Alexander remains a doubt for this weekend’s visit of Exeter City, while Mat Mitchel-King has returned to training.