“I wouldn’t say they were great”: Dawes’ reaction to Dons defeat

Tranmere Rovers boss Ian Dawes said he would have been disappointed to have drawn with MK Dons on Saturday, making his side’s defeat extremely tough to take.

Despite looking second-best in the first-half, the Rovers boss claimed it was because his side were not up to scratch, rather than Dons - who took over top spot with their second cosecutive win - looking good.

And after striker Luke Norris hit the bar from five yards out, before forcing Craig MacGillivray into a decent stop from a tight angle, Dawes said his side should have won the game, far less lost it.

“It’s a really tough one to take if I’m honest with you,” he said afterwards. “First-half we weren’t happy with it, I wouldn’t say they were great first-half, we just weren’t happy with us, so changed it.

“We weren’t combative enough and felt changes needed to be made and those changes injected a lot of intensity to it but it’s tough to take.

“Stats and data don’t lie, I think we had 16 shots to their seven and we created some unbelievable chances. I think I would be disappointed if I was standing here and it was a draw so to get beat today hurts.”

Dawes also took issue with Mo Eisa’s goal after seven minutes, heading in Alex Gilbey’s cross while Dons were down to 10 men with Jonathan Leko getting treatment.

He said: “I watched their first goal back and there are hints of a foul and a hint of an offside but we’ve got to defend it better. When there are delays in play like that because the lad goes off injured you’ve got to make sure you’re switched on and you deal with it. That was the only threat they had all game.

“I think first-half they were slightly better than us and created chances but nothing like we did second-half.”