Scott Lindsey was left disappointed with his MK Dons’ side in attacking moves against Bromley, feeling the team slowed things down too much.
Lindsey spoke after a 1-0 defeat at home to Bromley, who missed a penalty and later scored the only goal through Ben Thompson.
After the game, the Dons’ Head Coach felt his side had the effort but didn’t offer enough going forward.
He said, “We huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow the house down, and we have to do more to try and win a game for me. I felt we were a little slow in our build play, certainly in the first half, we didn’t create loads, but I just felt we were kind of slow.
“We knew there’d be a deep-to-mid block in terms of their shape and we wanted to travel up the pitch quicker and find passes quicker, and we were just too slow with the build and the longer the game went on at 0-0, the more it helped them.”
Lindsey also felt disappointment with the phase of play that produced the game’s only goal.
He said, “Second half, we had an action just before their goal where I thought we should’ve shot but tried to make a pass in the box. We look like we’re trying to walk the ball over the line always instead of taking a bit of responsibility in having a shot. Ball turns over, our rest defence isn’t right and people are in the wrong positions.
“We spoke about who’s responsibility it is when balls turn over but somebody ran into the wrong position, rest defence are all over the place and Imray then travels up the pitch. We get back in but still allow him to cross it. I spoke all week about marking in the box, but we don’t mark in the box, goal, and then we’re chasing our tails and its out of control football.
“We’re trying to draw a game against Bromley at home. No disrespect to Bromley but in my opinion, we should be winning the game today with what we’ve got on that pitch.”
Lindsey thought his side’s general play had been positive, but that when they reached the final third, it ended up being too focused on possession retention than chance creation.
He said, “I felt that we played reasonably well today but I just felt we didn’t show enough intent to win it. If we have to have a goal, and it is what we know it is, then we’ve got to have more intent to win a game.
“I just felt we were ponderous, slow in the build and too slow building the ball and playing through the lines. We consequently don’t win enough because of that. It’s got to be quicker and more aggressive with more guile and knowhow on how to break down a block, but it looks as though we just kind of run out of ideas.
“We don’t ask enough questions of the opposition. We just seem to want to pass in front all the time, but at some point, we’ve got to ask questions in behind or down the sides or in-between them.”
Defeat left MK Dons ten points off the play-offs after a run of just two wins from their last 12 outings, but with games running out, Lindsey said he felt the team had potential to emulate prior examples in making a late break up the table to swipe a promotion place.
He said, “Crawley were 13th this time last year and Doncaster were 19th. There’s one, sometimes two. 2020, Bolton were 13th this time that year but got automatic promotion. Northampton, the year before that.
“There’s always someone that can come and have a late surge. There’s nothing wrong with that and we’re good enough to do that. I won’t give up hope until it’s mathematically impossible. We’ve just got to keep going.”