AFC Wimbledon are still without a win in League One since October after Jack McMillan scored ten minutes from time to give Exeter City a 1-0 victory at St James Park on Tuesday night.
There were few chances in a tight game. Omar Bugiel shot straight at home goalkeeper Joe Whitworth in the 67th minute.
Joe Lewis then fired wide before at the other end right-back McMillan’s shot from eighteen yards went under goalkeeper Nathan Bishop.
That moved Gary Caldwell’s side out of the bottom four, while the Dons failed to close the five-point gap to the play-offs.
“I think we should come away with a point, that’s my feeling,” Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson said. “I’m frustrated that we probably weathered the early storm, had the better of it in the first half-hour but then we finished the first half strong and the second half, if anything, we were probably in the ascendancy.
“It looked like if we weren’t going to win it, then it might just peter out into a draw and then we give them a soft one. We give them a soft one. It’s like some poor defensive decisions there leading up to the goal and it costs us and then obviously we try and get back into it but a bit too late.
“It felt like one of the games for me where neither team was probably going to do enough to go and win it but then we give up that one and they take it and then we haven’t done enough at the other end.”
Jackson added: “A positive would have been a point. They tried everything to get back in it. These lads, there’s like illness running through the camp.
“We haven’t filled the bench tonight, we’ve had to bring young Harry Hedges, we didn’t have 18 senior players. I’ve got Ogs [Isaac Ogundere] and Myles [Hippolyte] on the bench but they’ve been ill for four days, haven’t really trained.
“I needed them, and it turned out we did need them to do 15-20 minutes, but it was impossible for them to start the game and one or two others. So, I’m just pleased that they kept going, they’re trying but it was tough, you know, physically tough because of the situation that the squad finds itself in.
“So, that’s a positive that they didn’t give up but that we’ll be fresher, we’ll have more options, we’ll be better going forward than we were tonight. Even though physically they’re not feeling at their best, there’s stuff that we could have done better with the ball.
“I thought we could have been a little bit more composed, we gave it back to them too quickly at times and then obviously the goal that we concede, but as far as the effort and the endeavour and the way that they’re trying, I’m never ever going to fault that because they give it absolutely everything even though half of them ain’t feeling too clever.”
Wimbledon host Mansfield at Plough Lane this Saturday at 12.30pm.
