Opportunities missed for many of Dons' second string

An awful first-half performance saw Dons three down in 35 minutes, effectively ending their run in the Leasing.com Trophy there and then.

Martin made seven changes to his side from the one which started against Bristol Rovers on New Year's Day, with many fringe players getting a run-out at Rodney Parade. For the manager though, too many of them failed to make their mark.

"It's important not to judge people off one performance, and we haven't done that. Now we can start judging people though, and it's disappointing some didn't take their opportunity tonight. We're learning about players individually all the time, and tonight is no different."

"The game was over after the first 45 minutes," he continued. "We've not been in charge for long, no pre-season and in the bottom three. League minutes have been so important, but we've not had a lot of chance to try anything different. Tonight was an opportunity to do that, but it was also a team that should have been good enough to compete.

"We saw it as a team that could win the game, and some have not taken the opportunity they have been given.

"It's not an easy place to come, but we cannot concede goals like that, or fail to compete in our box as we did. It's not what I've seen since I took over. It has shown how much work we still have to do with certain individuals and in certain areas.

"And it shows, although we've found some form, we've not cracked anything and there is a lot of work to do."