Paul Warne spoke after MK Dons’ 2-0 defeat at Blackpool

Aspirations of a play-off finish in League One are defined by nights like Tuesday, Paul Warne said as his MK Dons side slumped to a 2-0 defeat in Blackpool.

After controlling things in the first-half, but squandering plenty of opportunities to put the game to bed before the break, Dons were quick to collapse in the second. A miscued Karoy Anderson cross put the hosts into the lead before substitute Dale Taylor thrashed home a second towards the end, ending Dons’ chances of winning back-to-back games, and dealing another blow to the side which had such huge ambitions at the start of the season.

Booed off the field at full-time by the brave supporters who made the 200-mile journey midweek, Warne apologised on behalf of the team, and said if his side are to live up to their own lofty expectations, they should be expecting to win at places like Bloomfield Road.

“It was there to be won tonight and that’s what frustrates me,” he said. “Win back-to-back and we go into Saturday in the right direction. It feels like one step forwards and two back.

“If you want to be in the top six, you have to come here and win. We didn’t create enough to win, we weren’t bad enough to lose.

“I understand the fans’ reaction to us at the end, we’ve not given them enough. It’s a long way to come on a Tuesday, and I apologise.”

He continued: “In the first-half we were really good box-to-box but not in it. We had loads of breakaways and opportunities that ended up with an overhit pass or cross. It felt like we were in the ascendency.

“I told the lads at half-time that if we dropped points, we’d be really disappointed.

“It’s not the best we’ve been but we were the better team. We pressed high, made them kick long on numerous occasions and I felt like their fans had turned on them a bit.

“And you’ve got to score when you’re on top but we didn’t. We had a load of shots which didn’t go near the goal, we didn’t test the keeper nearly enough and that’s a real concern.

“They hit a cross-shot which goes in and it looked like one of those nights. Neither team looked sharp in the box really. We didn’t react the way we should, concede again and the game went away from us.”