Shot-shy Dons played it too safe in front of goal against Peterborough

Dons aired too much on the side of caution in the first-half againt Peterborough, and they need to be braver when it comes to creating chances in front of goal.

Until stoppage time, Dons had mustered just four shots on Lucas Bergstrom’s goal compared to Peterborough’s 17 and three goals. And with two stoppage time efforts from Daniel Harvie and Matt Smith, Dons reduced the arrears to spare their blushes somewhat.

Certainly with the score at 1-0, Dons managed to get into some promising areas particularly down Harvie’s left-flank, but looked reluctant to take the chance and pull the trigger - the closest they came was from Josh McEachran’s effort tipped just over the bar.

And it was something Harvie said the side discussed at the interval, having fallen further behind to Kwame Poku’s strike before half-time.

“I don't think we created much in the first half,” he said. “We were on the safe side, playing safe passes, not trying hard enough to get the forward players involved. We've got Will Grigg in the box, and nine times out of ten if you find him he scores - he's done that his whole career. We're just a little bit too safe. And we said it at half-time, we need to get shots off.

“Looking back to Oxford, we created so many chances. We have to be ruthless in that final third and you never know what might happen.”

Head coach Liam Manning said none of his players would be judged for having a shot on goal, adding: “We got into a couple of good areas, but we have to have belief and confidence to go for it - what have you got to lose?

“The fans want to see that, be entertained, have shots and score goals. The last five minutes is a positive, it shows we'll fight until the end.”