AFC Wimbledon: Johnnie Jackson needs to answer Crystal Palace question before League Two opener - View | OneFootball

Pre-season should help managers decide on their team for their opening game, but for Johnnie Jackson, one question still remains

2024/25 pre-season has allowed Johnnie Jackson to implement new tactics, a new formation and new systems to help AFC Wimbledon achieve promotion this term.

However, he has not yet been able to confidently confirm who he will be choosing as his first choice goalkeeper throughout the season, and, more importantly, who he will be starting in goal against Colchester United in just over a week.

The competition is between Lewis Ward and Owen Goodman, and Johnnie Jackson will have to make the decision of whether he should follow Crystal Palace's belief that Goodman should be the undisputed No.1, or whether the experience and commanding nature of Ward may just help the Dons a little more this season.

Lewis Ward and Owen Goodman's pre-season tests

Ward and Goodman have each had their opportunities this pre-season to stake their claim for the No.1 spot, and both have shown their strengths, and also weaknesses.

Ward has seen slightly more gametime, only by the virtue of arriving at the club from Swindon Town before heading out to their trip to Spain for a training camp and match against Peterborough United, a game in which he kept a clean sheet, made good saves and helped the Dons to a 1-0 victory. Meanwhile, Goodman arrived soon after the team returned to England.

Since arriving back on English shores, both have shared equal minutes, completing their respective halves in the games against Brentford and Met Police, while both also having full 90 minutes against Charlton Athletic and Maidenhead United.

In the games where both keepers only completed one half of football, there was either too much quality on show, or too little, for the two to have any meaningful and game-changing impact. That being said, however, there was some indication that Goodman may not have been too confident in his decisions throughout the game, occasionally mistiming a rush out from his goal line or not judging a cross correctly.

However, in the matches where they completed 90 minutes respectively, much more was learned.

Against Charlton, fans and staff alike were able to see that Goodman, despite his slight failure to command his box, is still an excellent goalkeeping prospect who suits the modern game. Throughout the match, the 6ft 4in keeper sprayed many passes about, both short and long, and even began the phase of play that led to Josh Kelly's second goal.

Whereas against Maidenhead, despite his more commanding nature in the box, Ward was unable to prevent a soft set-piece goal from being conceded, failing to win the battle against the crowd of players that surrounded him before Maidenhead's opener. He would then also concede a second but do well enough in the rest of his 90 minutes to prevent further goals being conceded and overall, despite his shortcomings, still looked solid, if a little unremarkable.

Does pre-season help Johnnie Jackson make decision and answer question?

Now that the pairs' pre-seasons have been covered, the simple answer to the question above is no.

The mixed nature of Goodman's and Ward's pre-seasons means that, with one pre-season fixture left to play, Jackson is likely no closer to figuring out who to go for.

He will have seen that Ward is more communicative, with the former Forest Green Rovers loanee often heard bellowing from his box during each pre-season game, as well as being much more confident in dealing with balls into the box. However, he will know that Goodman suits the modern game so much better, and is a small amount of development away from being a much higher quality keeper.

This therefore leaves the Wimbledon manager at a slight impasse, as he will either risk disappointing an experienced keeper who looks to have been finally given his chance following years of bit-part features for many loan clubs, or angering a parent club who has sent their youngster on loan in hopes of gaining first team minutes and develop in an environment where the likes of George Long and Aaron Ramsdale have succeeded before.

Palace will have no doubt sent Goodman on loan to the Dons with the view that he would play as first choice goalkeeper, given that last season he played plenty more games than Ward.

However, given his small teething troubles throughout pre-season, Jackson will surely feel that he cannot quite promise Goodman the undisputed spot just yet, meaning Palace will likely question whether Wimbledon was the best club to send their young prospect out on loan to in the first place.

More rigourous training with Wimbledon's legendary goalkeeping coach Ashley 'Bayzo' Bayes and the trust of the number one spot for the season opener against Colchester United will not doubt give Goodman a boost and help him progress away from what Dons fans have seen so far during pre-season.

However, he will know that Ward is going to be breathing down his neck, and that any sniff of a chance the former Swindon stopper gets, he will likely take.

All eyes will be on the chosen keeper when the Dons kick-off against Barnet, and it may give all who have a keen eye on Wimbledon this season, an answer whether Johnnie Jackson has finally come to a firm decision as to whom he is placing his trust in when defending the Dons net this season.