Micciche 'doesn't make excuses' but gives facts on Dons' demise

The 1-0 defeat to Bristol Rovers is the sixth in Micciche's eight game spell in charge - a stint that has seen Dons sink to 22nd in League 1, six points from safety.

With 11 games remaining, Dons have a real fight on their hands to remain in the division. But without a win under his charge, Micciche said he hasn't spoken with chairman Pete Winkelman with regards to his future at the club.

"We've not had that conversation," he said. "I was brought in here to do a job. Eleven games is a lot.

"Two points out of 21 doesn't tell the full story. We've had suspensions - it's not my fault Ed Upson and Ethan Ebanks-Landell had nine bookings when I got here. We've had eight injuries - these aren't excuses, they're facts.

"I came in in a difficult situation. We've come in and we've tried to chance the style of play, every game has been tight. We've lost to set pieces, we should have beaten Portsmouth and we've had injuries too. I'm not making excuses but these are facts. It was a tight game today. Two shots on target against three on target. Eight and ten off target.

"I'm optimistic, I have to be. We are very close. The tiny details are either not going for us or we're not capitalising. Unfortunately, we're getting punished for the mistakes we're making.

"Teams that do well in this league are the ones who make the least number of mistakes. Teams are making fewer mistakes against us and we're getting punished when we do. I'm giving everything to this job - I've barely seen my wife and kids since I took over here. But I'm sure you can recognise a lot of things are better but the thing that matters are the results. We're trying desperately to change that.

"At key moments, we have chances to kill a team off and we're not doing it. I know we should be here with more points, but we haven't.

"We've got 33 points to play for, but we won't need that many to stay in this division. We'll need 20, max, and that's being generous. It might seem like a tall order, and we know we have to go on a run. If we only win three, we deserve to get relegated."