Mark Robinson summed up his disappointment after the Dons failed to finish the job at Wycombe today.
Despite watching his side produce a superb away display, Robbo felt that the players should have been able to see it through to earn three points at Adams Park.
“Winning football matches is tough against anyone, especially if you are playing against excellent opposition, like we were today,” said our Head Coach. “The margins are always going to be small and the detail has to be spot on. You have to see everything through. You can’t waste your energy on certain things. Possibly we did that leading up to the second goal. It’s an emotional game, a frustrating game, but you have to keep your emotions in check and see things through.
“It would have been so wonderful to have sent the fans home happy with the three points. The fans were absolutely brilliant for 90 minutes. Even at 2-2 they must have been absolutely crestfallen, but they still didn’t stop and they gave us an incredible reception at the end. It’s a great feeling because we feel that we are all on the same pathway and we will 100 per cent get there.
“Egli did fantastic for the second goal and that’s what Egli is all about – power and pace. He doesn’t give up on lost causes and he did so well to keep the ball alive. Rudi attacked it with great energy and it was a great header. At that point you felt that was going to be it, but you have to keep seeing things through and we let the ball bounce in the box, which led to the penalty. We are absolutely gutted that we haven’t held on for the three points.”
Robbo felt that Curtis Thomson should have been red carded at a vital time after stopping a Wimbledon breakaway with a handball.
“I’m disappointed with the handball, which would have meant a second yellow and a sending off. There were four officials and not one of them spotted who it was, so they’ve ended up booking no one for a deliberate handball. It could have been a straight red, but it was certainly a booking. I don’t want to waste energy talking about officials, but it’s quite tough to think that not one of them could spot who it was because everyone else knew.”
Wimbledon’s attacking play was a joy to watch at times today, and Robbo felt that we should have had the game sewn up before Wycombe’s late rally.
“We just keep saying to the lads, ‘keep getting in the right areas’. We give them freedom to play, but they have to keep battling and doing the right things. They will get their rewards if they do that, whether that’s through goals or assists. The front four have been doing the work and getting the rewards. We could have scored even more today. Ayoub could have scored, Macca could have scored, and Rudi could have scored more than two.
“We started the game really well and we had to deal with what they threw at us, but I felt for the most part that we limited them to very little and we looked so dangerous on the break. We finished the half really strongly and we had a couple of chances, but at the start of the second-half we should have put the game to bed. We had three or four good opportunities, but we didn’t take them and they came back into it. I’m disappointed that we didn’t see it out at the end for the victory."
Pic credit: Ian Stephen, Pro Sports Images.