‘Young and naive’ – AFC Wimbledon head coach reflects on FA Cup upset at hands of Boreham Wood

Mark Robinson believed his AFC Wimbledon side looked “naive and young” during their 2-0 FA Cup defeat against National League side Boreham Wood.

An early strike from Tyrone Marsh and an 86th-minute goal by Adrian Clifton saw Luke Garrard’s side knock the Dons out of the third round.

Wimbledon only managed one shot on target in the 90 minutes.

Robinson said: “All I expect of the lads is not to take a step forward and then to take three steps back.

“The Oxford game is what it is – I forgive them for that because the preparation was poor – but we have done everything we can this week to prepare and get them as sharp and as fit as possible.

“We didn’t look manly again – we looked like a young side, which we didn’t against Accrington, and we certainly didn’t against Wycombe.

“Today, we looked naive again and young – that’s the disappointing thing, and that’s what you have got to rectify. The lads obviously feel flat, but you wouldn’t feel any different.

“It was a great opportunity to progress, a great opportunity to bring the club some more money and a great opportunity to possibly have another great tie as we did in the EFL Cup. We have come up short. It’s very disappointing.”

When asked if the Dons did enough to impose themselves on the National League side, Robinson added: “No, not really.

“We know they have got this great clean sheet record, and I said that it was really important that we didn’t go a goal down.

“We started brightly – first seven or eight minutes, I thought: ‘Okay, this looks promising.’

“But we gave the ball away cheaply, and we haven’t covered around, and they have scored a goal. But we should have had enough about us to get back into the game and create more opportunities than we did.

“We have got to have more guile, more craft, more hunger and more ability to get in areas, and that’s what is disappointing.”

PICTURES: LUCY DIXON