Neilson blames 'mental tiredness' for Dons' dull draw with Northampton

Dons looked lethargic, second best and short of creativity against Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's side, who probably edged the game but also didn't deserve anything more than a point.

Coming off the back of the hotly contested 2-0 win five days earlier at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, Neilson admitted his side didn't reach the same levels but felt a point was a solid result against a good Northampton side.

"There were some good parts, some bad," said Neilson afterwards. "Obviously after the highs of Friday night, we never really reached that tonight. But we have to look at the positives - it's another clean sheet and we're unbeaten in three and it's another point on board. We want to win every game but realistically we can't do that. We'd have liked a goal but it wasn't to be tonight.

"They made it hard for us, they got after the ball but we'd have hoped our quality would have shone through, but we didn't reach the same levels as on Friday and the atmosphere wasn't the same either.

"There was a bit of tiredness, but it was more mentally for the players.

"Northampton have a new manager in and they're really working hard for him. They played well at times and put us under pressure but we had a few chances and on another day could have scored.

"There were chances, Agard got through, Nesbitt got through, but we didn;t take it. Over the course of the game, a point was fair.

"There will be games like this where you have to grind it out and get a bit of quality to get the goals. It didn't happen today but if we go up to Bury and get three points, we forget about today."