Full-time boos are understandable, says Manning after Bolton beating

Boos rang out at the full-time whistle at Stadium MK on Tuesday after another poor showing from MK Dons saw them beaten, this time by Bolton Wanderers.

The 2-0 scoreline, with goals from Dion Charles and Gethin Jones, could have been larger but for Jamie Cumming in the Dons net and the frame of the goal, while counterpart James Trafford was barely called into action for the visitors as the hosts drew a blank.

It is now three defeats in a row for Manning’s new-look Dons, but for the first time there appears to be an air of discontent from the Cowshed as well.

“I feel the frustration, the hurt and disappointment which I'm sure they do,” he said afterwards. “We have to look, analyse and reflect. We analyse everything, the commitment, desire, directness, the confidence, everything. We are where we are, it's not where we want to be but we'll work as hard as we can to get out of it. 

“Cheltenham was a penalty and a free-kick; Exeter was a corner - we're conceding too much from set-pieces. We're disappointed, frustrated, it's a tough one to take.

“We made too many mistakes, there were too many turnovers. And despite that, we had a couple of counter-attacks where we could have been one-on-one but we either didn't see it or play it.

“Confidence is understandably low because we've not been getting the results we want to. With some of them, there's an edge to how they've played, a tension to their play and it leads to a rashness. We're hugely disappointed.”

The result sees Dons slip back into the relegation zone ahead of their trip to take on Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.

Manning added: “We're in a fight, we're in a scrap, but we have to stick together, own your individual performance and step up.

“You can see elements we've worked on, but we're not having loads of training time so we have to learn from video, from honest conversations and we have to go and put it right on Saturday.”