AFC Wimbledon: Johnnie Jackson has to spark life back into play-off push with action v Walsall | OneFootball

The late comeback to draw against Accrington Stanley was a not a great result for the Dons, and Jackson now needs to reignite playoff desires

AFC Wimbledon's late comeback to draw with Accrington Stanley was certainly impressive to watch from the stands for fans, but deep down, many will know there is certainly a lot of work to do.

And with fellow promotion hopefuls Walsall coming to town on Saturday, there is hope that Johnnie ackson can sort out the problems that the Dons have suffered from in their last two home games before the weekend.

Both tactically, and in the selection of the team, many will feel there are some much-needed changes, as well as perhaps a new standard that needs to be set with a busy winter period coming up.

What changes must be made by Jackson ahead of AFC Wimbledon vs Walsall

There were a number of disappointing areas on the pitch last night, with not one part of the team really impressing until late on in the match.

However, naturally going 2-0 down with just over 75 minutes played at home, the first area to look at is the defence.

This game saw Wimbledon's main man in defence this year, Joe Lewis, serving a one-game suspension following his racking up five yellow cards.

Jackson rotated his team ever so slightly. He bought in Riley Harbottle, who has not really had a look-in since James Ball has stepped up excellently into a centre-half role, and the former Hibernian defender had a very decent game, looking mostly solid and even picked up an assist for James Tilley's stunning equaliser.

However, it was on the other side of the defensive three where a majority of fans felt and expressed there was a weakness.

Ryan Johnson, with the captain's armband on, did not have a repeat of his imperious display up at Barrow last weekend, with the 28-year-old not only getting outmuscled for Stanley's second goal but also generally not offering much from the left-hand side. And it was the man who replaced him on 78 minutes that should be Jackson's first change come Saturday.

Isaac Ogundere came on and instantly brought pace to that side of the pitch, becoming a threat that Johnson had ultimately failed to be, despite his best efforts. He also did not really get himself into any defensive struggles or tough battles like Johnson, and after witnessing Tilley's equaliser, he did the job of a captain by dragging his teammates away from the celebrations to restart the match quickly and try and find a winner for Wimbledon.

Further up the pitch, while Joe Pigott is a completely different player than Omar Bugiel, it is clear that Jackson will need to swap him out with Bugiel back from international duty unscathed, as he and Matty Stevens failed to really trouble the Accrington defence for pretty much the entire game.

However, Jackson should also not be scared to change the system he uses with his attacking players if needs be on Saturday, and it may just have the added bonus of protecting Bugiel and opening a potentially tight defence up.

When Pigott dropped back into an attacking-midfield role with Josh Kelly being brought on, in place of James Furlong, to help put two up front for Wimbledon, it did have its intended effect. The Accrington defensive line did drop back a little further to stop the threat of Kelly and Stevens in behind, and if it weren't for the constantly wasted, looped passes, there may have been a chance that the pair may have got close to scoring.

So, if it comes to a point where the Dons do need a goal on Saturday, and the option arises for Jackson to play a trio of Kelly, Stevens, and Bugiel in behind, then it should be done and be the other change that is made, only if necessary.

What standards need to be set ahead of this weekend and the festive period

So, having discussed what changes Jackson needs to make purely on Saturday, it makes sense to move onto the standards that need to be set going forward, if the Dons really do want to reignite their play-off drive.

Firstly, as can be seen from the table, Wimbledon do still sit in a pretty position just outside of the play-ffs with now just two games in hand. However, if the way the team play does not improve or change, then the dream of chasing promotion can likely be forgotten for another year.

So the first standard that some may want to see implemented is to start playing to individual strengths.

While the team has looked so much better in Jackson's new-found style that he has implemented since the start of the season, it has to be said that when the style of play is simply copied and pasted when some core personnel are missing, it leads to poor performances and individual mistakes.

When playing to the strengths of players up and down the pitch, selecting the right players to do the right job and working that into a cohesive unit, then the Dons will start looking a lot more competent, like they have at times this season, and will start putting together a winning run.

This brings us nicely to the second standard that needs to be set; a winning, successful standard.

The entire team, and club in some forms, seems to have been shaken by the loss against Grimsby over a week ago, and there is a slight feeling that the Dons have still not recovered from it.

What ultimately needs to happen, with games coming thick and fast in December, is for the playing side to simply reset themselves, treat it as a mini-season almost.

Taking the draw against Accrington as the first result, the Dons should aim to stay unbeaten in all competitions between now and the end of the busy festive period, with a renewed, refreshed and reignited push to dominate home games and not let the opposition sus them out, and keep things going just as they are away from home, instead of reverting to the previous negative approach.

With the right combination of a new outlook to the upcoming games, and the right changes to setup and tactics for Saturday, Jackson could be on the precipice of leading Wimbledon into a promotion-challenging frontier, or another season of almost but not quite, and Walsall is his chance to spark that charge to the former.