Liam Manning praises MK Dons after Scott Twine’s late winner

Posted Monday, December 27, 2021 by PA

Liam Manning hailed his MK Dons side’s resilience after they came from behind to beat Lincoln 3-2 in a Boxing Day thriller at Sincil Bank.

The struggling Imps were gifted an early 2-0 lead thanks to Warren O’Hara’s own goal and Chris Maguire’s penalty, after Daniel Harvie handled in his own box in the eighth minute.

But Michael Appleton’s side were left to rue their missed chances as the Dons turned the game on its head in the second half.

Eventual match-winner Scott Twine pulled one back on the hour mark before Matt O’Riley levelled proceedings with 15 minute left.

And Twine secured a dramatic last-gasp win with his deflected late effort.

Manning said: “I’m delighted with the win and delighted with the response we showed. We’ve got real character, real resilience and quality as well.

“There’s huge credit to the guys for going and winning that game. They’re as frustrated as anybody with the first half. They know it and we’re unanimous about it. It’s something that we’ll look at.

“It was the typical cliche of a game of two halves. The first half wasn’t what we expect from this group. We showed a lack of discipline and were sloppy. You can’t start like that in this league no matter who you’re against.

“We can’t let teams get head starts and expect to come back over and over again. You have to take responsibility and deal with it. You have to do things right and deal with things. It’s about taking responsibility and that’s what we spoke about after the game.”

Appleton’s charges were condemned to a seventh league outing without victory.

And the faltering Imps are just two points above the League One relegation zone after 10th defeat of the campaign.

Appleton said: “There’s big, big disappointment. The players are flat in the dressing room. We’ve got to make sure we find a way of picking them up for the Rotherham game.

“There’s a lot that people will forget about today because of what happened at the end. It just probably shows where we’re at. We’ve conceded a winner in the 90-odd minute, it’s deflating because there were a lot of positives. Some of our attacking play was excellent.

“We just didn’t make them work hard enough for the goals they scored. The players will be absolutely kicking themselves, like I am, about the goals we conceded.

“Ultimately you can take pressure off yourselves and your defenders if you put your chances away. We’ve missed two or three incredible opportunities to go 3-1 ahead and that’s what’s hurt us in the end.

“You’ve got to believe that eventually things will turn and change.”