Lack of sharpness in front of goal frustrates Dons boss after FA Cup scare

Russell Martin was critical of his front-line at the Silverlake Stadium on Sunday after MK Dons were taken the full distance by National League side Eastleigh in the FA Cup.

Goal-less despite Dons having 14 shots on goal, the tie went to the final round of spot kicks, and after Tom Bearwish saw his hit the bar for the hosts, Scott Fraser put Dons' name into the hat for the second round draw on Monday night.

While Carlton Morris hit the post with a header, and Ste Walker forced three saves from the excellent Joe McDonnell in Eastleigh's net, Martin said his strikers have to be braver in front of goal.

He said: "I'm pleased to go through and overall I'm pleased with the performance but I'm frustrated with one aspect, and that's the final third. We created lots, looked dangerous but we just need to find that conviction to go and score a goal – someone to go all in and score, beat their man, get in the middle of the goal.

"The ones I'm frustrated with are the ones where the ball comes across the face of goal and there's no-one there to tap it in – that should be the end of the move. I feel like we've got to score the perfect goal for it to go in., We need to be more ugly and willing to be as brave as we are at the back.

"We haven't had as much time to work on it as we'd have liked with all the games, and when we get that right, we won't be far away from being very, very good."