John Coleman ‘getting sick of football’ after Accrington lose to MK Dons

Posted Sunday, February 11, 2024 by PA

Accrington boss John Coleman admitted he is ‘getting sick of football’ after the 2-1 defeat at MK Dons.

Jack Payne, on loan from Charlton, whipped a delightful free-kick into the top corner to cancel out Jack Nolan’s opener for Stanley with 19 minutes remaining.

Left wing-back Joe Tomlinson was the Dons hero in stoppage time, firing home a deflected effort in the third minute of added time to send the home faithful wild.

But Coleman did not mince his words when discussing the performance of the match officials.

He said: “Where do you think MK will play that ref next week? Behind the front two? I’ve never seen a worse ref in my life, or a more one-sided ref, ever.

“To be honest, I’m getting sick of football, I really am, because it’s just not fair. I’ve just watched a game there that wasn’t played out according to the rules.

“You look at that incident where our lad [Jack Nolan] gets chopped down running away. He gets booked, I get booked, and their lad doesn’t.

“We had a free-kick on 92 minutes, header, comes off their lad for a corner. He doesn’t give a corner, he gives a goal kick. They get a corner and they score from it. That was the difference in the game.”

Coleman was clear in his assessment of the opposition, who sit sixth in the play-off positions.

He added: “You’d like to think MK Dons would learn a bit [from that match]. If they don’t realise how fortunate they were, they won’t improve.”

MK Dons manager Mike Williamson hailed ‘street footballer’ Payne after his superb equaliser set the hosts on their way to a dramatic win.

He said: “[Jack] Payne is a joy to work with. He’s what I call a street footballer. Wherever he is he’ll be doing the same thing and he loves it; it’s in his blood.

“He inspires and drives in his own way. We’re fortunate enough to have players to create moments like that which do change games.”

While Williamson admitted his side took a while to get up to speed, he was encouraged by their tireless work-rate.

He added: “I felt the game started in a strange manner. It was really slow and lethargic and it took us half an hour to get going.

“When the quality is not there, you’ve got to make sure the fight is and that you’re picking up second balls and you’re switched on. We didn’t do that so well in the first half but we did in the second.

“You can never question the character and the fight and the endeavour of the boys.”