“I’ve got belief in the players”: Jacko on MK Dons’ defeat at Plymouth Argyle

Mark Jackson admitted it was always going to be a tough test for his MK Dons side taking on League One leaders Plymouth Argyle, after they were beaten 3-1 at Home Park on Sunday.

While Nathan Holland cancelled out James Wilson’s third minute opener on 19 minutes, Niall Ennis struck on 38 before Moran Whittaker’s excellent strike on 51 put the game to bed for the hosts.

But Dons weren’t without chances - Mo Eisa and Louie Barry in particular should have done better with opportunities, the latter too felt he should have won a first-half spot kick.

The result sees Dons drop another spot to 23rd, but they remain a point from safety.

“You come to the league leaders who are full of confidence, it's a tough place to come,” said Jackson afterwards. “We wanted to come here with an idea of how we want to play with and without the ball.

“We changed the formation, but we conceded sloppy goals at the wrong times, and it meant we were up against it against side like that. It's something we need to address.

“We created chances, we wanted to get our forwards into good positions, and we knew we could do that. We knew we’d have to work hard out of possession but we kept the shape.

“And yes we got opened up at times, we switched off but people are still learning what we want from us but taking the result out of it, I’ll take positives out of it.”

There are now 12 days before Dons’ next outing - the visit of Lincoln City to Stadium MK on January 14 - precious time for Jackson to get out on the training ground properly for the first time since taking over the post.

He continued: “We've got 12 days before Lincoln, and that's what we've got to focus on now. We've had six days together, three games and limited time on the training pitch. We have to keep things in perspective. We've got a lot of work to do, but now we've got a little bit of time to do that.

“I’ve got full belief in those players in there because what they’ve given me was evident as a coach, but I need to get them on the training pitch to impliment my style.”