Robbie Neilson was candid in his assessment of MK Dons’ performance in the 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth.
Neilson’s side, who went into the match having won their past two away fixtures, fell behind just 14 minutes into Saturday’s contest and then conceded again in first-half stoppage time.
There was a slight response from the team after the break but in truth, the men from MK1 never really looked like getting back into the match, which led to some frank words from boss Neilson in his post-match interview.
“It was very disappointing,” Neilson told iFollow MK Dons. “Apart from the first 10 minutes, we didn’t do enough to win the game.
“The quality in the attacking areas wasn’t good enough and it allowed Portsmouth onto the front foot. We then gave away a goal and it spiralled from there.
“When you come to places like this, in front of 17,000 people, if you get the first goal then it kills the crowd so to give away a poor goal like we did was disappointing.
“I still think we had enough in our tank to get ourselves back in the game but we lost another poor goal just before half-time which made it very difficult for ourselves.
“We brought down a great support and the massive disappointment for us is that we didn’t send them home happy.”
He continued: “It was a difficult day but we have to be resilient and respond to it. We’ve got a big game on Tuesday now and we need to make sure we win that.”
Here’s what else Neilson had to say in his post-match interviews...
Support from the fans
“As they always do, they stuck with us. We thank them for their support and hopefully they come back on Tuesday and we can give them something to shout about.”
Second-half response
“Getting (Chuks) Aneke in to link with Osman (Sow) gave us a lift. The issue we had was the quality into him and Osman wasn’t good enough. They’d also probably agree that their quality when they had the ball wasn’t as good as it needs to be."
Quality needing to improve
“The quality was miles off where it needed to be. We take it on the chin and we’ll be in (Sunday) morning to go again. We’ve got good players here and we need to start getting the ball into good areas for them. If we’re not going to supply them with the correct balls at the correct time then it’s going to be difficult.”
Back-to-back home games
“They are massive games for us now and we want to take maximum points. It needs to be better than this, though, otherwise we won’t be taking anything from them games.”
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Robbie Neilson and MK Dons will look to bounce back when they entertain Walsall at Stadium MK on Tuesday evening.
Tickets for the match are priced from just £10 adults and £5 under-18s. Supporters can upgrade to East Centre for a £5 premium or clubRed for a £10 premium. Under-12 Young Dons (Plus members) still go FREE.
What’s more, groups of 20 or more that book tickets at a discounted rate of £10 adults and £3 under-18s - click here for more information.
To book tickets click here, visit the Box Office or call 01908 622988. Tickets will be available to buy right up until kick-off.
