The Dons management team were again critical of the man in black after a controversial late penalty denied Dons a draw at Southend.

Referee Darren Deadman judged defender Mathias Doumbe to have fouled Jean-Francois Christophe in the box deep into stoppage time.

But replays showed that barely any contact had been made. And Paul Ince and Karl Robinson were left fuming after the 2-1 defeat.

Last week against Charlton they were denied two clear penalties, and again found themselves on the receiving end of a bad decision.

"To lose to a goal like that is just devastating," said Ince. "It wasn't a penalty and the referee continued to get the big decisions wrong.

"You had it with the Ireland game in the week, refs are costing teams and countries.

"I asked him who gave away the penalty and he could not even say who it was which seemed strange.

"If it was a blatant foul then he would have seen who gave it away and much sooner too."
Assistant Karl Robinson backed up the boss, saying Deadman didn't know who had committed the foul.

"We can't just come out and have a go at the ref but what we can say is he didn't give it initially," he said.

"First he told the players it was McCracken, then it was Wilbraham and finally it was Doumbe.

"They look nothing alike which is a bit of proof that he didn't really know who it was. He just saw the guy on the floor and has given the decision which in the end has cost us the result.

"And with the first goal being an own goal as well we feel a little bit hard-done by."

Last weekend after the defeat at Charlton Ince said referees should be made to explain their decisions to the media. And that's something which Robinson agrees with.

"We come out and speak to the press, we support the players, we thank the fans and we do our job. I think part of the officials' role now should be to come out to the press and explain those decisions.

"The free kick which led to their first goal wasn't a free kick and for the second one the player has just fallen over Martin Devaney.

"We don't want to come out and have a go at the referee, but I think he needs to be honest and explain why he's given it."

Robinson said he was happy with the performance though, but he did admit the first half display was far better than the second.

"We were excellent in the first as we dominated and looked classy going forward. Maybe in the second half we didn't retain the ball as well but the effort and commitment was still there.

"We're working extremely hard, but everybody needs to be aware that it's baby steps we're taking. It is a slow process and we've been saying that since day one."

Dons have a chance to quickly put their defeat at Southend behind them when Carlisle United come to town on Tuesday.

Dons have no new injury worries ahead for the game and the likes of Jermaine Easter, Peter Leven and Stephen Gleeson could be recalled to the side.

The Cumbrians go into the game on the back of a 1-0 home defeat to Swindon on Saturday.