Hapless Dons are not getting the rub of the green, Lindsey believes

Head coach Scott Lindsey feels his MK Dons side are not getting the rub of the green when it comes to penalty decisions of late after his side conceded at the death to lose 1-0 to Colchester United on Saturday.

Former Dons loanee Jack Payne volleyed the ball into Kane Thompson-Sommers, who was adjudged by referee Alex Chilowicz to have handled illegally with just four minutes to go in the tight-knit affair at Stadium MK. Payne then stepped up and rolled the ball past keeper Connal Trueman to win it for the U’s, before Callum Hendry saw red in stoppage time to add to the misery.

It was the third penalty in five games for the keeper to have faced, while Dons have only had one all season long, coming back in October.

Lindsey was left to lament what he felt was another soft decision going against his side as they suffered their 11th defeat in 16 matches.

“I remember the Bromley game when we had two clear handballs not given, but a soft one here is given,” said the head coach afterwards. “When your luck is down, it's down.

“(Kane) can't have his hands anywhere else, they're by his side. Jack Payne has turned and volleyed it, it has hit his arm on it's way down, but he can't do anything about it. It's not a penalty.

“And then (Bromley’s) Byron Webster controls the ball with his arm out and it's not given. It feels as if we're not getting much in terms of those.

“We're really hurting because of the run of form. The way we are and where we are at the moment, we need to win. We haven't, we're disappointed but we have to keep going.”

On the whole, Lindsey admitted his side might not have done enough to have beaten Danny Cowley’s side but he definitely felt losing was harsh on his players.

He continued: “It's football isn't it, sometimes you can perform really well and not get what you deserve. You could argue we did enough to win it, but we certainly didn't deserve to lose it. I thought we were the better team, and had periods of the second-half when we really locked them in.

“We could have asked more questions of the goalkeeper, but we're nervy in front of goal at the moment. You can see the players are fighting, and they don't deserve that today.

“It's down to fine margins, when you're down you're down. We can't feel sorry for ourselves. It is what it is, we can't change it, but we have to stick together and stay focused.”