Players are mentally broken and need lifting as well as MK Dons' fortunes

MK Dons’ players are mentally broken at the moment, according to interim head coach Ben Gladwin, after suffering another defeat on Tuesday night, going down 2-0 to Accrington Stanley.

Like Dons, Stanley are struggling at the wrong end of League Two, but after first-half goals from Tyler Walton and Joe O’Brien-Whitmarsh, Gladwin’s side were left with a mountain to climb in the second to give him the fairytale start to his time in charge.

With only an hour on the training ground with the players, Gladwin watched on as the side failed to register a shot on target for a second consecutive game, and drawing a blank for a third as they dropped to 18th in the table ahead of a now critical game with Morecambe, who head to Stadium MK on Saturday looking to get out of the relegation zone.

“Unfortunately, it's a sign of where we are at, mentally more than anything,” Gladwin said at the Wham Stadium. “They're really hurt by how it has been recently. It shows when there's a negative action that doesn't go our way, the energy goes out of the boys.

“We responded relatively well in the second-half but by that point, the game was gone.

“I'm really proud of them. We've had one day of training with them, we're trying to pick them up. I said it would be really nice to rock up here and win 3-0 but the reality was always going to be difficult. It will take time to turn things around.

“I've asked them to feel it all before Thursday, but to come back in with some energy to go and attack the weekend.”

Talking about the lack of efforts on target, he continued: “We've got to look at that. We've got to get bodies in the box to cause the opposition problems, that is something we have to address as a priority on Thursday.”

On the game itself, Gladwin added: “As a player, I think I played here three times and never won. It's very difficult to come here, they're a difficult team who go man-for-man, and make things so tough.

“If you give them a leg up, like we did with soft goals, it is hard to come back, especially where we are at the moment.”