“It wasn’t about winning the game”: Lewie on Dons’ Papa John’s Trophy exit

Caretaker boss Dean Lewington wanted to see a response from his MK Dons team-mates following Liam Manning’s sacking on Sunday.

The skipper took caretaker charge of Dons’ 4-1 defeat to Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night, sending them out of the Papa John’s Trophy in the last 16.

Given only one training session with the players on Monday, Lewington said it was unrealistic to have expected huge changes in Dons’ fortuntes at the Memorial Stadium, but wanted to see a positive response from the players.

“It wasn't about me or winning the game really, it was about the boys coming out and trying to produce a performance,” he said. “For me, I wanted to see some character and a bit of fight, and I think we did that.

“In Bristol, on a cold Tuesday night in the Papa John's Trophy, it would have been easy to turn it in, but they kept going, credit to them, and they showed a bit of character at the end.”

And though there were patches of improvement, it was a pretty comfortable night on the whole for the hosts who cruised into the quarter-finals. Luca Hoole headed the Gas in front on 33 minutes, with Dons failing to register a shot on target until the second-half. A John Marquis double and a Harvey Saunders strike put Joey Barton’s side 4-0 up in pretty routine fashion, before Mo Eisa’s penalty ten minutes from time, which also saw Alfie Kilgour sent off, dampened the blow for the visitors.

Lewington continued: “It's a difficult result to take, but I don't think the scoreline tells the whole story. We're disappointed with the goals, but there were lots of bits between the boxes which were pretty good, and showed some energy in the game.

“Defensively, they were all preventable goals. We were watching and thinking we weren't in any trouble, but one mistake and they're through. I think they had five shots and scored four goals.

“It's just one of those things... actually it's not one of those things - we have to get better at it becsuse we keep making those mistkes, and therein lies the problem.

“And when we get into the final third, we lack a bit of devilment, a bit of aggression and knowhow. It's something we need to improve on.”