Relief for Martin as Dons progress past Eastleigh

It was with a sense of relief that Russell Martin saw his side progress past Eastleigh at the Silverlake Stadium on Sunday to book their spot in the second round of the FA Cup.

Despite having 14 shots on goal, Dons were unable to breakdown the National League side and needed a penalty shoot-out to see off the Spitfires after a 0-0 draw.

Joe McDonnell had an excellent game in goal for the hosts, denying Ste Walker and Regan Poole, while Carlton Morris hit the post for the visitors in the stalemate, but after going the full distance, Martin felt relieved to avoid the potential banana-skin.

"I should feel better about going through," he said. "The players will be frustrated with a lot. Lee was excellent, Baily was really good, Jay Bird did well too. There were pleasing aspects but I think we're all a bit deflated. We're through, and that's the most important thing.

"These ties can be really difficult. A lot of teams fell to lower league opposition yesterday and we avoided that at a tough place to come.

"It never turned into a cup game – we controlled and dominated which isn't easy against lower league opposition. Credit to Eastleigh, they stuck to their task and were disciplined.

"There were so many positives to take. If we came off and won three or four-nil, no-one complains about it. We're on a journey together, we've improved a lot in the last year. We haven't let games get away from us for a long time. We're getting better and better, we just need to brush up in that final third."