Dons are recoiling too much after a ‘punch on the nose’ from opponents

MK Dons are still struggling when faced with adversity - a trait Graham Alexander is desperate to see them get over.

After Dons had dominated the opening 20 minutes against Gillingham at Priestfield on Saturday, the hosts had a chance when Macaulay Bonne was introduced and it saw Dons fall into chaos. Five quick-fire shots and the eventual opener came in the next eight minutes, leaving Dons reeling.

The on-off switch at which Alexander’s side go from in control to on the rocks is a huge concern for the head coach. Earlier this season, he noted that the change usually happened at half-time, but said the sway in momentum is now happeneing as soon as his side face a sticky patch in a game.

“When we get a punch on the nose, we're reeling for a bit,” he said. “We need to get that out of the make-up of our team.

“Even when we were winning we had spells of doing well, but something was changing in second-halves and we'd lose our way, and our composure. It's still apparent. The players understand that, they don't know why it's happening.

“They work exceptionally hard in all aspects of their training, the coaching, their training schedule. But at the end of the day, you have to put it into action in the pressure moments and pressure situations, and every Saturday, there is a tough opponent putting pressure on you.”

Another issue Alexander highlighted was a lack of consistent pressure created by his side, that same pressure Gillingham were able to spark which led to their opening goal.

The head coach said were having to work too hard to carve chances in front of goal, but they were not leading to huge sways in momentum.

He continued: “We get into good areas, get good shots off but we're not taking the opportunities.

“We're creating chances in isolated moments, but we're not creating a momentum and a pressure - chance, chance, chance, save, corner and so on. It gets in the opponent's minds, and that's what Gillingham did when they brought on Bonne.”