‘Nobody is going to feel sorry for you’ – Dons boss Johnnie Jackson reflects on 5-1 defeat to Swindon Town

BY JACK BURGESS

AFC Wimbledon are 20th in League Two after a 5-1 defeat to Swindon Town at Plough Lane.

The Dons took the lead on eight minutes from a corner was played short to Ethan Chislett, he sent a fantastic whipped cross in towards the back post for Aaron Pierre to head into the far corner of the net.

The lead was shortlived when. Just seven minutes later Swindon’s Marcel Lavinier was brought down inside the box by Hus Biler with referee Scott Simpson pointing to the spot. Luke Jephcott sent Nik Tzanez the wrong way.

Just three minutes after the equaliser, Wimbledon found themselves trailing. Remeao Hutton’s cross was headed in by Jacob Wakeling on 18 minutes.

Swindon added a third on 32 minutes after stopper Tzanev passed straight to Jephcott, who added his second.

Wimbledon started the second half brightly and had an early penalty shout when Pierre appeared to be pulled down in the penalty area but referee Scott Simpson waved away their appeals.

Swindon added a fourth on 61 minutes through Tom Clayton, who headed in from a Hutton cross.

To compound the Dons’ misery, Pierre was sent off after handling Ronan Darcy’s effort off the line. Darcy converted the penalty to add a fifth.

Wimbledon have dropped 38 points from winning positions this season.

Manager Johnnie Jackson was asked by South London Press what he put that down to.

“A lot,” he said. “Take today out of it, a lot of the time it has been down to the make-up of the squad.

“The lack of depth has meant a lot of the time we were chopping and changing and were finishing games weaker than we started them.

“That’s played a big part in conceding, especially late on. We’ve got a real lack of experience in our squad. A lot of our experienced players have unfortunately been on the sidelines for long periods.

“When you have the squad that we have, when you lose big players and big characters it’s going to have a detrimental effect”.

The Dons have only one win in 18 games. When asked about the mood in the dressing room, Jackson said: “When you’re losing games confidence isn’t going to be sky high, but this is football – nobody is going to feel sorry for you.

“We need to work even harder on the training pitch and we are not going to be putting our feet up now that we know where we are playing our football next season. We’re going to be working even harder than we did this week.”

“Today’s performance wasn’t acceptable, and it wasn’t at the levels that we all expect, none more so than the supporters. But we must fight until that last whistle against Grimsby and then we reset and look at where we are going to take it next year.”

Wimbledon are now safe from relegation, after Hartlepool’s loss to Crawley, and Jackson was asked whether the final two games of the season could aide his preparation for next season.

“Perhaps,” said Jackson. “I think it will give me some flexibility, in terms of what we can do and who we can look at. I must think long and hard now about who’s coming with me and who wants to be a part of what we’re going to build next year, which is going to be a lot different to what we did this year.

“I’ve seen some stuff today which I didn’t like and there will be opportunities for other players for the last couple of games.”

PICTURES: LUCY DIXON