Plenty of lessons learnt from October’s dip, says Manning

Liam Manning joked Dons’ dip in form in October has come as a result of the Manager of the Month curse, but hopes his side have learnt their lessons after a difficult stretch.

Dons have lost four of their six games this month, following Manning’s prize-winning month of September which saw Dons build up to a nine-match unbeaten streak and reach third in League One.

“I think it’s getting that terrible award and the curse that comes with it!” said Manning ahead of Saturday’s trip to bottom of the league Crewe. “When I look at the results, they might not be what we wanted but the performances have not matched the outcome. It’s about learning and getting better, being clinical and being ruthless with it.”

Taking on teams at the foot of the table has proven to be difficult for Dons in October too, losing to Doncaster Rovers and Shrewsbury Town this month. And after those humblings, Manning hopes his side have learnt from their experiences.

He said: “When you look at the games against Shrewsbury and Doncaster, we learnt great lessons.

“I’m pretty sure the first 10 minutes we had at Doncaster will never happen again. When you play 300 games, you’ll have that in your career where you’ve learnt that. We’re still in that stage where we’re having these experiences that don’t always go our way but are setting us up for the longer term. When we have these moments again, we’re in a better place to be able to deal with that.

“Whoever we’re up against, we have to make sure we’re at it and we can control the game, and that’s what I want to see tomorrow. I want to see positive energy, go out and dominate with our style, play with confidence and freedom to show what we’re good at and what we do best.”