Dons boss Robinson: Playing against Arsenal on Wednesday was not on our players’ minds
AFC Wimbledon head coach Mark Robinson says his players were not distracted by the prospect of playing Premier League opposition in their 1-0 home defeat by Plymouth.
Robinson said his young squad instead ran out of ideas towards the end of the game and did not have half an eye on Wednesday night’s EFL Cup third round game at Arsenal.
Robinson said after the one-goal loss: “I don’t think the game against Arsenal even crossed their minds. They were professional throughout.
“Plymouth were defending in numbers and we started well but lost on momentum. Argyle did what they had to do right up to the end and we run out of ideas which can happen.
“Football is often about momentum. If you take your chances then you have success but that did not happen this time.
“I tell the players that when you win you can’t get too high.
“Sometimes if you handle it the right way, a defeat like this can end up making you stronger.
“We’ve only lost one game in 10 up until this game, so the fact it hasn’t happened for us this time should not trouble us just yet – we just have to to get on and put it right.
“We really dominated the first half and created a lot of chances but do not take them. Our decision-making let us down.
“We had our moments and probably do not do enough with them. We had a lack of attacking options, with Ollie Palmer not feeling fit enough to come on.
“We tried something different later on in the game but it didn’t work. It just shows how far we’ve come, as a team that is possession-focused, that teams challenging at top give us so much respect.”
Robinson did not blame anyone for the deciding goal.
“We will have to look at the goal and what happened but we play high line and the balls can come over the top,” he added.
“Nik Tzanev looked like he would come for it and then didn’t. He’s held his hands up that he’s made a wrong decision there. We just have to to learn from this kind of thing and move on.”
PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD