Karl Robinson was left ‘shell-shocked’ as his side were beaten 3-2 by Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Dons recovered from a goal down, after former striker Ryan Lowe netted the opener after seven minutes, to take a 2-1 lead thanks to superb strikes from Daniel Powell and Jason Banton.
However, the Dons were left to lick their wounds as Lowe added his second of the match from the penalty spot and James Rowe bagged the winner just six minutes from time.
Speaking after the game Robinson said: “I’m shell-shocked. Those players did not deserve to lose that game.
“Tranmere beat us so you have to take your hat off to them and I’m not bitter over them winning, that’s football you win some, you lose some but anyone who was in the ground today will have seen how well the players played today.
“For whatever reason at the moment things are going against us, whether that be injuries, missing chances and when we make a mistake we are getting punished at the moment.
“When you start so well and one player makes an individual mistake you wonder what has happened. It was a dagger through the heart but in the second half I thought we were by far the better team - I thought we should have got more out of the game so I’m absolutely gutted.
“I’m not going to be critical of any of my players today, I thought they were really, really good. Sometimes you don’t get what you deserve and that was certainly the case today.
“I think you have seen today that they are motivated from the last performance and they have put on a performance that we can all be proud of. I think I responded in the right way today, if you keep doing the right things luck will turn.”
Robinson, whose side have now lost four of their last five games, felt the turning point on Saturday was the linesman’s decision to flag Banton offside when the Crystal Palace loanee was clean through on goal at 2-1.
He added: “The rules are that if he is not interfering with play when the ball is played and it comes off their player and then he becomes active, he’s onside. He’s got the rules wrong.
“When the ball was played Jason was in an offside position, but he didn’t make an movement to the ball. Off the next touch, which is a defender’s touch, he’s put through on goal and he’s then pulled offside.”
However, despite being frustrated with the above decision, Robinson did concede the penalty awarded to the hosts in the second half was the correct call.
“It was definitely a penalty for them, Jordan got caught on the wrong side and he did the same thing for the free-kick leading up to it.
“I feel for him because I thought he had a wonderful debut; I thought he was excellent.
“There was not a player on the pitch today who had a bad game today – we just made a few mistakes which gifted them goals.”
