Discipline and quality lacking in Dons defeat to Bristol Rovers

None of players are stepping up to the plate for MK Dons at the moment, Liam Manning admitted after losing 1-0 to Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night.

Dons mustered just one effort on target all night - a tame Bradley Johnson header early in the second-half before the midfielder fouled Ryan Loft 15 minutes from time to allow Antony Evans to fire in the decisive penalty for Joey Barton’s side.

“It's tough to take,” said Manning afterwards. “Not enough people are delivering at the moment. After so much change in the summer, we need someone to step up and grab the game and take responsibility.

“When we got up the pitch, we were asking who is going to get on the ball, show some quality in the attacking half? And we didn’t see that. We have to be brave and step up. We have to make smart decisions, be disciplined.

“It’s not that we’re not fighting, competing. We’re just lacking discipline and quality to create chances, quality control the game by passing. We have to go away and look at it.”

On the game he said: “There wasn't a huge amount in the game to be honest. The lads' attitude was good, but it came down to discipline and quality.

“We gave away a cheap penalty and ultimately didn't have enough quality high up the pitch to cause problems and create. We're really disappointed.

“We just can't knit anything together at the moment. At the weekend, we had chances but couldn't deal with long balls. Tonight, we dealt with long balls but couldn't create. That's where we're at at the moment. We have to look at it and learn quick going into the weekend.

“There wasn't a lot in between boxes but just a lack of discipline which cost us.”