Dons' defensive errors gifted Lincoln the advantage, says Darling

"We have to take responsibility as players, it's our fault," said Harry Darling after MK Dons' 4-0 defeat to Lincoln City on Tuesday night.

Despite looking fairly comfortable in the first period, having more possession and control of the game in the first 45 minutes, a 15-minute spell at the start of the second half saw Brennan Johnson net a hat-trick for the Imps in an error-strewn start to the half from Russell Martin's side. Cohen Bramall's excellent free-kick with a quarter of an hour to go put the game comprehensively out of reach.

Speaking after the game, the manager said he felt his side had eradicated making the errors he saw them made at Sincil Bank and defender Darling agreed.

He said: "Plain and simple, it wasn't good enough today. I think we did well in the first half but the first 15 minutes in the second half killed us. There were too many mistakes, including from myself. We have to learn from it and go again.

"We can't make those sorts of mistakes because we'll get punished. Those three goals in 15 minutes killed the game and gave us too much to do. Tonight we could and should have won it by the way we played in the fist half. We've got to tuck away some chances but if you concede four goals, you're not going to win.

"As a defence, our aim is to keep clean sheets but we gave ourselves too much to do. We have to improve on it."

Destined for a midtable finish this season, remaining 14th in League One despite the defeat, Darling said Dons are still eager to finish the season on a high, despite losing two of their last three games.

"The hunger is still there," he added. "The players want to win every game, even if we're not playing for anything.

"It has been a learning year for everyone. We are building up to next year now, we've got to finish the season as strongly as possible and finish as high as possible."