Player error and basic mistakes hurting Dons too often this season

Captain Dean Lewington has accused some of his team-mates of going against the team plan after the 3-1 defeat to Barnsley on Saturday.

In a poor showing at Oakwell, Dons’ League One outlook was made worse as they slipped six-points from safety as they were distinctly second-best to Michael Duff’s side in Yorkshire.

Looking a match for their opponents for only a 15 minute spell at the end of the first half, which saw Dons draw level through Mo Eisa’s first league goal of the season, Lewington said suggested of the players went against the team plan which they had worked on all week and it lead to crucial mistakes.

“It's player error,” he said. “We work on things all week and we get to a Saturday and people don't do their jobs and decide to do something else, and it costs us.

“The manner of the second goal, the bloke is free eight yards out from goal, it’s so frustrating. You come away to places like this and you have to be difficult to play against. But this is happening too often, something so simple, we don’t do our basic jobs and it’s why we’re getting punished. It’s just not good enough.

“We need to improve everywhere. If it were just one thing it would be OK, but there are multiple areas we need to get better at. We dealt with crosses on the whole pretty well but it's things off the cuff, making the right decisions and we're making the wrong ones constantly. And that costs you.”

On the performance, he added: “It just wasn't good enough. It's hugely frustrating because it's a tough place to come and in the first 10 minutes they come strong. When they got that first goal, which was a little bit fortunate, we got back into it.

“We looked good for the last 15 minutes of the first half, but we came out and repeated the same mistakes early in the second half. They are simple mistakes but they are costing us massively.”