Rochdale win must not disguise '˜rubbish' performance

MK Dons '˜were rubbish' despite beating Rochdale 1-0 at Spotland, according to manager Karl Robinson.
Karl RobinsonKarl Robinson
Karl Robinson

Scott Wootton’s late header, deep into stoppage time, finally beat Rochdale keeper Conrad Logan’s resolve, having earlier made a strong of top saves - including a penalty save from Ben Reeves - to keep it at 0-0.

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“We were rubbish,” he admitted. “The performance was poor in the second half, but we were very good in the first half. Other than their chances at the end, we had the better of the chances - a penalty, two for Nicky Maynard, Powell had one, Reeves had one. But we were poor. We looked disconnected and unorganised.

“But when we’re that bad, we had to call on something I can’t give a player, and that’s a belief in themselves to put their body on the line. Every tackle, header and pass had to be right.

“The win shouldn’t mask the performance.

People will look at Rochdale’s league position and assume we should be coming here and beating them - that’s not the case. You come here on a miserable afternoon, in the rain, and we had to be resolute.”

Robinson was dealt with a series of blows in the build-up to the game, forced into three changes and risking an unfit Dean Bowditch, Scott Wootton and Ben Reeves to step into the breach.

But despite the set backs, Dons have seven points from four league games - a total Robinson is delighted with.

He said: “We’ve lost Kieran Agard, Darren Potter and Paul Downing, Dean Bowditch shouldn’t be playing, Ben Reeves is only just fit, Scott Wootton shouldn’t have played either really. We’re very bare.

“I kept looking at my bench and thinking ‘he’s 16... he’s 17... is it right for them?’

“But we’ve got seven points, which we’d take. And we’re still getting players back and bringing players in. It’s challenging, but we’ve got the win.”