Mark Robinson felt that his players showed real signs today of recapturing their impressive early season form.
Though disappointed by the manner of the goals conceded at Fratton Park, Robbo was encouraged by elements of the performance.
“In terms of performance it was much more positive, much more high energy," said our Head Coach. "We were more of a threat and we always looked like we had a goal in us today. I will have to see the goals again as the view when you are down on the touchline is never great, but there were a couple of errors that led to the first and the second goal we’ve switched off. We were actually on the attack. We had a switch of play and we showed a little bit of disappointment and we didn’t see our jobs through. Two passes later he is running at us and he has finished, so they are the things we have to iron out and we will.
“We are at our best when we are high energy and win, lose, or draw that’s the way we have to be. That will move us forward. Of course, the points are important, but the performance was really important today. We possibly didn’t have the energy that we would have wanted in the last few games, but today it was back and we carried a threat."
With no natural right-back available for today's game, Paul Osew was chosen to fill the void, switching from his usual role on the left.
“It was needs must, but I thought Paul was excellent. He did really well and he was a threat going forward. He stuck to his task well and I was really pleased with him. He was definitely a positive as were other performances. I said to the lads that three points would have been lovely, a point would have been good, but nothing would be cured. It’s my job to breed confidence in there because I know we are going to be a really good side."
A total of 910 travelling supporters showed great support for the Dons on the day and Robbo was full of praise for their backing at Portsmouth.
“The fans seen that it was more like it was earlier in the season. When we drew or lost back then they were encouraged by the performances. When you see that it gives you confidence to know that you are going somewhere. They are not silly, they could see that performance out there. Today we lost, but if we keep playing like that all season we will win plenty of football matches. That’s what they’ve seen and their response was fantastic. That’s why we can’t get down. It’s tough because football is an emotional game, but my job is to take that emotion out of the game and to get us back on track. Apart from the result there were plenty of things to be pleased about.
"I don’t think anyone at the stadium would say that we looked like a side that are going to be fighting relegation and I’m absolutely confident we won’t be. We need to look at the positives and the little things that we didn’t see through well enough and that comes with a bit of maturity. I’m confident they will."
Pic credit: Ian Stephen, Pro Sports Images.