Dons boss encouraged by Birmingham loanee’s debut – and revealed why he took him off at Charlton Athletic

Mark Robinson was impressed with Sam Cosgrove’s debut for AFC Wimbledon.

The Birmingham City loanee made the switch to Plough Lane on deadline day and played 67 minutes before being replaced by Aaron Cosgrave in their 3-2 loss at AFC Wimbledon today.

Robinson said: “Sam gave us that different option. When you need to go a bit more direct he offered that.

“He links the play up well and all round he looked a threat. I didn’t want to take him off but that was his first game in a while so he cramped up.

“Once we took Sam Cosgrove off we looked a little bit predictable. Whilst he was on we had a bit of a mixture to our play and carried a threat. When he came off, we carried on doing the same thing, but not the same physical presence up top.

“I had no choice but he will offer exactly what Ollie [Palmer] offered. That allows our other player to play because they can play off him, which is what we need.

“Once we get it right we are more than capable off going on three-four wins on the spin.

”There wasn’t many chances in open play. It looked like it was going to be one of those games, we are disappointed we were on the wrong end of it. Neither team opened each other up, it was a very tight game.

“There has only been three games this season, when I felt we have been off it. Every team we play, we are competitive. It’s small margins and we need to turn those margins around.”

PICTURE: KYLE ANDREWS