Mark Robinson said that ‘unforced errors’ cost his side at Shrewsbury today after Wimbledon had taken the lead through a superb team goal.
Unfortunately, it was not a move that was replicated on a regular basis as the Dons failed to do enough of the things required to win football matches, according to our Head Coach.
“Overall, it was poor," said Robbo. "I thought we started brightly, and then we gave them momentum through some poor decisions. We identified to the lads that crossing was their strength and we tried to pin their wing backs further back. I haven’t seen the goals yet, so I don’t know whether or not we got out to the players crossing the ball quickly enough. I need to look at that, and see if we were doing our jobs.
“Early on we looked like we had a purpose and we were controlling the game, but then we made unforced errors that gave them momentum and belief. To be fair, we broke and got the goal, which was well worked, but that’s what we didn’t do enough of. When we turned the ball over we needed to break at that pace all of the time because they are a hard-working side and they get back into shape really quickly. We didn’t do that, and it was too laboured. They got back into shape and we struggled to break them down.”
Robbo added that there was not enough substance and purpose to his side’s play at Shrewsbury.
“I don’t want us to be a pretty football team, I want us to be really hard to play against. I want us to keep possession, but it’s not about how many passes you make or what patterns you do. That’s part of it, but everything you do must have a purpose and you are trying to hurt them. I said to the lads that as we get better teams are going to start sitting in a bit more against us. It happened against Plymouth, and it happened again today. We’ve got to come up with a way of hurting teams and creating more chaos.
“We cannot be so purist about what we are doing, and we need to get into areas where we can hurt the opposition. We didn’t do enough of that, and we didn’t do enough of the things that you need to do to win football matches.”
Our Head Coach stated his appreciation to the 340 travelling Dons that made the long trip to Shropshire to support his side.
“The fans were great again. I’m sure at 1-0 they felt that it was going to be a victory. Maybe that was the problem and everyone felt like that. I’m sure the petrol dispute hasn’t helped, but they travelled in great numbers and they were singing right until the end. I can only apologise for not giving them a positive result.”