Manager fumes at Dons' second half showing

Russell Martin said his side were poor in the second 45 minutes against Fleetwood Town, despite winning the game 3-1 on Tuesday night.

For as good as Dons were in the first half at Stadium MK, with Joe Mason firing in a 27-minute hat-trick to give Dons a comfortable cushion heading into the second period, they were too complacent as Fleetwood had a host of chances to get back into the game.

Sam Finley scored their only goal with seven minutes to go, but the visitors forced keeper Andrew Fisher into a string of vital saves, saw one cleared off the line and hit the bar as they searched for a way back into proceedings.

For Martin, he said it was a frustrating night when he should have been talking about a comfortable win, he instead was angry at a poor second half outing.

"Fortunately, we've done enough in the first half we've done enough to win the game," he said. "We scored three top drawer goals, and we should have got more. Cammy (Jerome) should have scored with a big chance, and at 4-0 we could have enjoyed the second half a lot more. I was really pleased by what I saw in the first half, against a good Fleetwood side.

"We spoke at half time about showing the same intensity but a bit more composure. Fleetwood took a lot more risks in the second half, but we got in behind a few times and should have taken those big chances.

"But I'll be honest, I didn't like the second half one bit. Not one bit. The pitch doesn't help us, and we've had a lot of people play a lot of football recently. We've got people coming back from injury, we've got a lot of young players on the bench so we're low on numbers, but we weren't connected, weren't as intense as we should be, we didn't play for each other as we should. I saw too much I didn't like.

"I don't get emotional about results, more about performances. Too much of the second half I didn't like. I should be waxing lyrical about a 3-1 win, but there was too much I didn't like. Win, lose or draw, we analyse it and we all know it wasn't good enough.

"Ultimately, I'm happy with three points. There have been too many times we've played brilliantly and not got what we deserved. Tonight, we weren't brilliant but we've won. That has to be a pleasing factor for me."