Captain Dean Lewington says that while he was disappointed with Sunday’s result, the players’ reaction in the last half-an-hour was encouraging.
MK Dons were beaten for the first time in five games yesterday afternoon courtesy of goals from Clayton Donaldson, Marcelo Trotta and Sam Saunders.
Karl Robinson’s men, though, rallied back in the final 30 minutes and after Lee Hodson made it 3-1 with his first goal for the Football Club, the Dons went close to a second through Patrick Bamford – before the Chelsea loanee had a decent shout for a penalty turned down soon after.
Although it wasn’t to be, the Dons skipper was pleased how the side responded after conceding the third goal.
The 29-year-old explained to MK Dons Player: “It’s disappointing more than anything really. We made a sloppy start and if you give a team at the top of the table a 1-0 head start it’s never going to be easy and after that we were always chasing them.
“They’re a strong outfit and they’ve got a few decent players up top who can finish and make it hard for you, but in the last half hour we probably had 60 or 70 per cent possession. It showed the lads that, when we get it right, the difference is not that great.
“It would have been interesting if we had got it back to 3-2. When it got to 3-1 the tide seemed to turn in our favour but we just couldn’t seem to get that second goal that would have really put the pressure on.
“It was encouraging to see that the boys kept on going and finished the game strong. Brentford won the game so we can’t cover ourselves in glory but the boys didn’t throw the towel in and in a way that was pleasing to see.
Sunday’s defeat ended what had been a great run for Karl Robinson’s side over the Christmas period; a run which had seen them go over 600 hours of football without conceding a goal.
But with December and an, overall, disappointing 2013 now in the history books, Lewington is looking forward to a more successful 2014 - starting with Colchester United on Wednesday.
He added: “(2013) has not been a vintage year. It’s been very disappointing and so we’ll be hoping 2014 is better for us.
“We have to make sure we respond to this now and get three points against Colchester and make it a ‘not so bad’ Christmas period.”
