Tiredness is no excuse for defeat at Oxford, says Williams

After the brave performance in the 1-0 win over Peterborough two days earlier, which saw Dons battle for more than an hour with just nine men, last season’s Player of the Year admitted there were tired legs in the squad, but he said it wasn’t an excuse for the defeat.

He said: “Probably a bit, with just a day turnaround, and it wasn’t a normal game was it - all the stoppage time and obviously down to nine men so there were a few tired legs but that’s no excuse.

“We dominated the majority of the game, which is why we’re so disappointed. We need to stop these silly mistakes. If we cut them out, we’d have won that game.”

Dons picked up just three points from 12 over the Christmas period, but after an against-the-odds win over Posh, Williams says it could have been worse.

He added: “It’s frustrating but if we’d have drawn Saturday we’d have been delighted, and a draw here too we’d have taken it, and that’s two points. We’ve got three. We have to look at it like that.”