Ayoub Assal beginning to flourish as AFC Wimbledon take on Lincoln City

With the season drawing to an end on Sunday for most football clubs, many might be forgiven for thinking that it’s time for players to be putting their feet up around the country. However, there’s a young man at AFC Wimbledon, wishing the season wouldn’t come to a close.

Whilst many of the Dons squad and fan base may be glad to see the back of the 2020/21 campaign having escaped relegation, teenage attacker Ayoub Assal will be relishing the opportunity against one of the League One’s high-flyers.

Assal has flourished in recent months and is now beginning to establish himself as part of the first-team picture at Plough Lane. Since joining the club at 12 years old, the midfielder has made his way through Wimbledon’s youth set up, playing for the under 18’s side at just 15.

Having made his full debut against Southend United in the EFL Trophy in 2019 aged 17, Assal has been called up to Morocco’s under-20 set-up, and whilst things were very much on an upward trajectory, the now 19-year-old has had to bide his time to become a more regular part of the Dons set up.

Since Mark Robinson took over first-team duties in January 2020, Assal has made 13 league appearances with four goals and two assists to his name, most of which came in the previous month. After an eye-catching performance in the Dons’ 5-1 demolition of Accrington Stanley, the ‘tenacious’ youngster has picked up the Football League World’s Player of the Month award for April.

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Acknowledging what the award has meant to him personally, Assal was also quick to praise manager Mark Robinson for the style of play, enabling the youngster to flourish at the club.

“It’s a great achievement for me. Hopefully, there will be many more to come if I keep working hard.

“Since Robbo came in as manager we are playing with more freedom in the final third. The fluidity of the formation has helped a lot and that’s why I think we’ve scored so many goals.”

The Dons playmaker will be hoping to finish the season on a high at Lincoln. On the back of his early taste of success, Assal is very much looking to the future and exciting fans when the new season begins in August.

“I can’t wait to play in front of our fans when they return to Plough Lane, especially with the style of football that we are playing. We are playing attacking football and that’s what gets fans to buy tickets to come and watch us.”

At this stage of the season, it’s always an opportunity for the managers to look at one or two of their younger players but considering Assal’s development and the faith placed in him by Mark Robinson, this could just be the start of a promising career.

With a play-off place confirmed, Lincoln City manager Michael Appleton will have a small dilemma facing him with Wimbledon’s visit. With players returning from injury, will it be a case of Appleton getting more vital minutes into the legs of Jorge Grant, Tom Hopper and Joe Walsh or wrapping them up in cotton wool until the first-leg of the play-offs kicks off in a couple of weeks?

The Imps have had a highly successful season in securing the play-offs but some fans will still feel a little aggrieved that if it wasn’t for a disastrous run of injuries to key players, Lincoln may well have gone up via automatic promotion.

Despite a big ask last weekend to keep the pressure on second-placed Peterborough United, Lincoln had put together impressive results to give them half a chance of stealing a march on Posh. Their collapse from leading the game 3-0 to drawing 3-3 will be of some concern to their fans as they dare to dream about life in the Championship next season.

Having followed that up with a 3-1 defeat to Charlton in midweek, it’s been a little symptomatic of Lincoln’s season that when things are looking good, they can quickly be derailed and look worryingly fragile as a unit. Speaking post-match, Imps boss Michael Appleton is still looking for a reaction from his players as they prepare for the play-offs.

“I wanted a performance from certain players to force my hand and make my selection for Sunday and the play-offs be difficult. One or two maybe gave me food for thought but a couple of others didn’t.

“I’m disappointed that one or two personnel hoping to show me they should be in the starting 11 and pushing…it didn’t quite happen.”

With impressive weaponry in the arsenal, Appleton’s ultimate objective will be to finish the game unscathed with a huge couple of weeks coming up for the club – their biggest league games in decades at Sincil Bank.

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