Emotional Micciche felt at home in the Dons dugout

Despite getting his managerial career off to a losing start, going down 1-0 to Coventry City in the fourth round of the FA Cup, Micciche said he saw signs of the players taking on board his new ambitions and plans to rebuild an identity at the club.

Maxime Biamou got in ahead of Ethan Ebanks-Landell to poke past Lee Nicholls just after the hour mark to send the Sky Blues through, but for Micciche, it was an emotional day irrespective of the result.

"It was emotional because this club means a lot to me," he said. "I've been here on the special nights, so I feel this is my home. It adds something to it and I'm so desperate to succeed here.

"We've scored just 28 goals this season so we need to build confidence back in them again. We want to be a patient, possession-based team, and we needed the supporters with us. We've told the players not to shoot from 30 yards and panicking.

"There were promising signs. We dominated the ball, which I'm pleased about and that's the identity of the club and what we expect. The players took on board the positional play, unfortunately we didn't take our chances."