Fraser praises defence's 'big switch' after his Portsmouth criticism

Dons have added defensive stability since a fiery interview given by Scott Fraser after the 2-1 defeat to Portsmouth at the start of October.

After giving away two goals from set pieces - one of which was a penalty - Fraser criticised the way the side was defending as they were still seeking their first win of the campaign, five games in. "As players, we're sick of coming off the pitch having worked so hard," Fraser said that day. "But we don't feel the opposition need to do as much."

Since then, Dons have turned things around somewhat. Defensive slips are not as prevalent, there are three wins on the board and they are no longer sat bottom of the table.

"We've got a lot stronger, particularly at the defensive end of things," Fraser said on Wednesday. "We're not conceding sloppy goals like the ones I talked about that day.

"We defend set pieces now thinking they have to be really good to score against us, whereas before we were worried about conceding. It's a big switch.

"After seeing the number of free kicks and corners Sunderland won at the weekend, you could see Cameron (Jerome) and (Richard) Keogh winning every header. When you go in with that confidence, and with boys who are that good in the air, it makes it a lot harder for the opposition. We always believe that once we're all up to speed, we'd do well."

And Fraser admits he is one of those who is still to get "up to speed" as he says. Having arrived late in the day and missing the pre-season campaign, the Scot says he is getting closer to being where he wants to be, and that includes scoring and assisting more goals too.

He said: "I still like to be sharper, but that comes with the games. You get 4-5 weeks of pre-season and a number of games. I’ve been treating the games as friendlies but I feel fitter and sharper and feel myself getting fitter.

"I tell the boys I should have more goals and assists. It’s a strange season, we didn’t have much of a pre-season. Once the boys get up to speed we’ll get more goals, I think I should have more goals and once I come into my own – I’ll score more goals."