AFC Wimbledon’s Will Nightingale believes if anyone can cope with the threat of Lyle Taylor it is himself.

With Charlton chasing promotion and The Dons deep in a relegation scrap, both sides know the value of three points when they meet at Kingsmeadow this weekend.

Nightingale and the Charlton ace, who made over 100 appearances in a three year spell with Wimbledon, were teammates until Taylor made the switch across London at the start of the season.

"He’s one of the best player’s I’ve played with,” said Nightingale.

“I’ve played against Lyle before, marked him in training before.

“If anything I should have as much more experience playing against him than anyone else and it can only put me in good stead really.

“He’s a goal scorer, that’s what he is, give credit where credit’s due.

“He’s not scored in every single game, and on Saturday it’s a game I want to stop him scoring in.

'One of the best'

“So the way I see it, don’t give him an opportunity to score, cut it out at source, and stop it before he gets it.

“I prefer playing against the higher-level opponents, I thrive off it.

“I go in wanted to be tested.

“But if you go in to every game prepared, find out what their strengths are, find their weaknesses and exploit that, then you should come out on top.”

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(Will Nightingale in action against West Ham Untied in the FA Cup fourth round)

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Drastic Improvement 

The Dons are four points adrift at the bottom of the table after an indifferent start to the league campaign.

Under new manager Wally Downes however form has improved, including a run to the FA Cup fifth round, a win at Walsall, a draw away at high flying Sunderland and a superb 4-3 win at Rochdale on Tuesday night, and Nightingale knows they can’t afford any slip ups if they are to avoid relegation.

“We’ve got to keep that consistency.

“If we want to finish the season strong which we have to do, we have to keep that consistency, we’ve got no choice.

“Even though we lost against Millwall, people say we were unlucky and that we’ve matched, or not been far off a championship side, we’ve got keep those levels.”

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