Experienced defender targets league challenge
Paul Robinson said that Saturday’s FA Cup exit was a “wake-up call” and the players must react quickly to maintain their League 2 challenge.
Three successive league wins put Neal Ardley’s men on the fringe of the play-off places, but defeat to Forest Green scuppered hopes of keeping the run going and reaching the third round once again.
Speaking during an interview with Rob Cornell for Dons Player, Robinson said: “We are very disappointed, ultimately for the fans, but the biggest thing is our reaction now. We have to make sure we get ourselves on that training pitch, get ready for the next game and work hard. It is the wake-up call we maybe need to go another run in the league, keep ourselves in the top-10, and ultimately push for the top-seven.
“We will have to learn the lessons from this defeat. They came here and showed us respect by sitting in deep and with a game-plan to counter-attack. We know teams are going to do that and if we are going to do well we are going to have to work and improve. As a team we have to stay patient and break teams down.”
Though Robinson was not with Wimbledon last season, he sensed the motivation within the camp to repeat last season’s FA Cup run.
“For someone like me on the outside, looking in, it was a massive occasion (playing Liverpool),” added Robinson. “Everyone who had a taste of it wanted to repeat that. This year it is not to be. We wanted to get through the first two rounds and keep our run of three wins out of three going. We will have to get over this quickly and get ourselves ready for next week.”