Richie Barker labelled MK Dons’ 3-2 defeat to Chesterfield as extremely disappointing.
The men from MK1 fought back from 1-0 down to lead the Spireites with a quarter of an hour left to play but two goals in the space of five minutes stunned the hosts, who looked on course for their first home league win.
“We’re extremely disappointed,” said Barker. “They’ve worked hard and done everything I asked them to do but unfortunately we fell short.
“In the first 25 minutes it was as one-sided a game as I’ve ever seen but unfortunately, as we’ve seen too many times this year, we didn’t manage to get a goal in front and then we get hit by a counter attack.
“It was then a fantastic effort to get back into the game but then the rest is history.”
“We’re extremely disappointed,” said Barker. “They’ve worked hard and done everything I asked them to do but unfortunately we fell short.
“In the first 25 minutes it was as one-sided a game as I’ve ever seen but unfortunately, as we’ve seen too many times this year, we didn’t manage to get a goal in front and then we get hit by a counter attack.
“It was then a fantastic effort to get back into the game but then the rest is history.”
“Certainly this is a low point in the two-and-a-half years that I’ve been here. I understand that to still not have won at home (in the league) going into December is not good enough.”
“At home, we also can’t be conceding three goals. We all came away happy with a clean sheet on Saturday, having only conceded one goal in three hours but now we’ve conceded three in one game. You’re going to make life difficult for yourself if you keep conceding goals at home.
He continued: “We had 15 shots in the first half and only two hit the target – that’s not enough. We need to make the goalkeeper work harder because hitting the target twice in 15 games is not acceptable.
“It’s going to take time, though. I don’t want to put any unrealistic expectations on him because he’s not going to be ready for a start in the near future – he’s got a long way to go but it’s a positive first step.”
“It’s certainly a positive moving forward that we’ve got a talented player and somebody we’ve all been looking forward to having available, back on the pitch.
The attacking midfielder has worked extremely hard in his rehabilitation to be able to return to action at this stage and Barker says he was pleased to see the 23-year-old on the pitch.
One positive to take from Tuesday’s clash was a debut for Chuks Aneke, who has been forced to wait for his appearance due to a tricky knee injury which he sustained while playing for his previous club.
