Ben Gladwin feels MK Dons need to cut out mistakes and stop conceding early goals in order to turn their fortunes around and climb up the Sky Bet League One table.
Goals from Matt Taylor, Sam Long, and Olamide Shodipo saw Oxford United run out 3-2 winners at The Kassam Stadium.
Both Cameron Jerome and Ben Gladwin were on the scoresheet, but their goals weren’t enough to see Russell Martin’s side come away from Oxfordshire with points on the board.
Speaking to iFollow MK Dons after the final whistle, Gladwin couldn’t hide his frustration following the manner of Oxford United’s goals.
“It’s very frustrating. We feel we are close to being an amazing team, but there are some goals we are conceding at the moment that can’t continue.
“Giving opposition teams an early start is probably the most frustrating thing. If we get into the dressing room at 0-0 - that’s fine - the fact we keep conceding early goals is frustrating.
“We’re a fantastic team, we all believe that within the group. The manager and Luke work so hard on it in training, and when we get on the pitch, we have to execute what they’ve asked us to do. There are times we are doing that amazingly, you can see that, but there are occasions we aren’t – so we have more work to do.”
MK Dons reacted well to Oxford’s early goal and levelled the scoring just five minutes after going behind as Cameron Jerome converted from Daniel Harvie’s cross.
Following the goal, Martin’s side controlled the game until half-time, however, it was Oxford United who took control of the game following the beak.
“We give teams a head start far too often. After we score, for twenty minutes, I’m thinking we could be winning 4/5-1. I said to the lads at half-time, that’s a chance for us to put them to bed and go in a few goals up.”
Gladwin added, “We had a lot of possession in the final third, I thought we could’ve finished them in the first half. When that doesn’t happen, there is no excuse for going on to lose the game – the minimum we get is a point.”
