Ardley happy to remain a Don

AFC Wimbledon boss Neal Ardley insists he wants to stay at the club following an approach from Gillingham.

Gills have been without a manager since Peter Taylor's departure on New Year's Eve but Ardley is adamant he has unfinished business at the Dons, who lost 3-1 at home to Carlisle on Saturday afternoon. Speaking after that game, Ardley said: "Gillingham are looking for a young manager and I've been the name put in the mix. "They've done it the proper way and approached the club. I'm very pleased the club don't want to lose me - and I don't want to go. "Between me and the club, we've got to put plans in place to improve and we have been. You can see that as this season we're a better team than we've ever been." The Dons made a great start against Carlisle with Adebayo Akinfenwa scoring his ninth league goal of the season inside two minutes. However, centre-back Sean O'Hanlon nodded home for the visitors who then went on to take all three points with further strikes from Steven Rigg and David Amoo. Ardley said: "We threw everything at it and on another day we would score. If you have 22 attempts then usually you do score. "I know as well as anyone that December was a great month but that doesn't matter if you have a nightmare month as well and we've got to react. We messed up and we've got to try and put that right next week." Carlisle ended a run of three defeats and boss Keith Curle, who reserved praise for debutant midfielder Anthony Griffith, believes his side came of age. "The pleasing thing was the reaction," he said. "You go into the game and you set your team up and then after two minutes you're 1-0 down. We either shake things up on the pitch or the player has to come off and the response was fantastic. "They showed desire, drive and passion and I think the team grew up. "This is a very good Wimbledon side who have just added to their squad with quality players that we had a look at in (Alfie) Potter and (David) Connolly. It was a good performance, but we've still got some requirements that we need in the changing room. "Anthony Griffith isn't a player who's pleasing on the eye but he knows what to do and he knows where to stand and he'll tell the players. He'll go toe-to-toe with players and he'll organise the team. If someone isn't doing the right thing then he'll let them know."