Gaffer's thoughts after the draw at AFC Wimbledon
Town came away from the Cherry Red Records Stadium with a hard fought point in a game that saw Town finish with 10 men after Ivan Toney was shown a second yellow late on in the second half.After the game Town manager Micky Mellon was pleased with a point over the 90 minutes but thought it could have been more.
“It was a hard earned point but in the first half I thought we were poor, I always try to be honest and we weren't anywhere near where we wanted to be.
“In the second half we made a couple of changes and that seemed to spark us a little bit.
“Before we went down to 10 men we could probably say were unfortunate with a few of the opportunities that we had not to nick the winner.
“It is always a tough place to come so we will have to accept the hard earned point.”
Town were 1-0 down with just over 5 minutes of the first half gone to give them a poor start to the game.
“You cant' believe it when that happens but from there point of view Wimbledon have worked it well.
“They've blocked Junior in and then worked the man at the edge of the box who has gone on and finished it.
“They will be pleased with that but from our point of view it was a foul on Junior but by now you expect these to be the thing that people see.”
At the half-time break the manager was quick to make changes after a below par first half. The introduction of Shaun Whalley and Louis Dodds gave Town more of a spark and helped them put in a much better performance.
“We know what we are trying to achieve with the shape of the team and we weren't getting that in the first half.
“We wanted to try and work that overload as we were getting a lot of the ball and we had to be better when we passed the ball into those areas in front of their back four but we weren't near to that.
“In the second half we brought Shaun Whalley and Louis Dodds on and we looked more likely to cause them problems because we started to get the balls into them.
“The rest of the lads upped their game and the intensity of the play and got us back into the game.”
Town were back on level terms early in the second half and it was Ian Black who got the all important equaliser.
“Ian is capable of that and he is a terrific striker of the ball and as soon as I've seen that I'm lining the ball up for him and saying hit it.
“He stroked a sweet ball and we were pleased that we've got ourselves back into the game so early on in the second half.”
The game finished with a lot of pressure from the home side after Town had been reduced to 10 men following Ivan Toney's second yellow card.
“You are getting things launched into your box and it's difficult when your down to 10 men because the spare man is hitting diags into your box and you have to be good at defending.
“The lads were brilliant at doing that and winning those first balls and knock downs and seeing the game through.”
Ivan Toney was shown a second yellow after closing down Dons keeper Shea and after looking at the match footage the Gaffer believes there was little the challenge.
“He's not even touched the guy, we've looked back at the DVD and he's physically not touched the lad.
“He's got to challenge for the ball and it's a game of football where he's got to try and block things but he's not laid a glove on the lad.
“The linesman has given it and it's the same one where can anyone in the stadium not tell me that Louis Dodds has got two hands on his back and is pushed in the 18 yard box, it was plain to see.”
The Gaffer was left frustrated with some of the decisions during the game and is getting frustrated with the performance of the officials.
“There's something got to be done when the two managers are agreeing that something has to be done about the standard of referring.
“I don't want to get into trouble because I don't deserve to get into trouble for someone else’s performance.
“At the end of the day my lads have fought and battled and even the Wimbledon fans behind me were laughing at some of the decisions and this is a guide to how things went.
“I'm not trying to come over as a complaining manager as we got a point but come on we need to get better and know the responsibility to the game and we don't need the most influential person on the pitch not to be one of the players.”