AFC Wimbledon won’t be returning to Wembley for a second year in a row after a 2-1 defeat to Northampton Town in the quarter-finals of the EFL Trophy at Plough Lane on Tuesday night.
Tom Vale gave the visitors a first-half lead before Matty Stevens levelled four minutes into the second half.
Tom Eaves scored the winner on 73 minutes.
Dons boss Johnnie Jackson knows the main aim this season is to stay in League One after promotion through the play-offs last season.
“We made some changes tonight but that’s a good team that’s gone out there with some real experience and some freshness, lads who haven’t played in the last few games,” Jackson said on the Dons’ official website. “I don’t expect to make changes and it be to the detriment of the team.
“The same boys responded in the second half and it was excellent. Then we made some subs to try and get something from the game. But it was the same eleven that went out at the start of the second half and was much improved.
“So I think it’s a lesson for the whole group, all of us, that we can’t afford to coast. And what I won’t have is that we’ve got a couple of good results this week and then we come off of it – it can’t be like that.
“Obviously we know what our ultimate aim is this season. I’m not going to stand here and say I didn’t want to win the Trophy because I did. Tonight we’re disappointed that we haven’t gone through.
“But ultimately we know what our aim is this season. For us to achieve that we have to be at it all the time like we were in the second half, like we have been in the last three games. And I won’t allow us to come off it.”
Wimbledon travel to Oakwell to face Barnsley, who are a point behind them, this Saturday.
“I think second half we were probably on top and were certainly pushing more than Northampton,” Jackson said. “We had better moments, scored a goal and then I thought we’d probably go on and win the tie.
“But they’ve obviously pegged us back, with probably one of their only chances in the second half. But in fairness to them, I thought they were the better team in the first-half and I can’t ignore that bit of it. I was disappointed with the first half display.
“I was really pleased with the reaction in the second half and I thought that was much more like us, what we’ve been like of late, what I want my teams to look like. Front foot, aggressive, getting after the ball, squeezing the pitch and taking the game to the opposition. But I thought first half we were passive and we didn’t show enough of that.
“And to be fair, they scored and they could have had probably at least another one. So, yeah, I am pleased with the second half and in the end we probably could have taken it to penalties at least. We’re pushing hard at the end, their keeper made a save, a few cleared off the line.
“We’re pushing and they’ve got something to cling on to. But we gave them a leg up first-half and I wasn’t happy with that bit of it.”
