Dons first-team coach: We should have shown same response as Millwall after penalty miss on Saturday

BY MAX HALL

Wimbledon first-team coach Simon Bassey said his side should have taken a leaf out of Millwall’s book, after goalkeeper Joe McDonnell (pictured above) gathered the softest of penalties from Luton’s Danny Hylton with the Dons 1-0 down on Saturday.

Instead of being a turning point though, the hosts continued an insipid, toothless performance before Elliot Lee settled the contest 10 minutes from time.

“We had people at Millwall-Wigan on Tuesday night to watch and [it was] very similar,” said Bassey, who conducted the 5pm post-mortem at the weekend, with manager Neal Ardley conspicuously absent.

“Millwall were 1-0 down, Wigan got a penalty and missed it, [and Millwall] got up and were excellent. The crowd was excellent, they got up when the penalty was missed and you sensed a real feel of euphoria through that.”

There was no such reaction from Wimbledon against Luton on Saturday

“The players didn’t respond,” he added. “The players didn’t respond to the crowd today in the second half.”

IMAGE BY PAUL EDWARDS