AFC Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson believes the Dons have been “miles” better than expected this season despite their winless run being extended to six games after a 0-0 draw with Mansfield.
The clash at The Cherry Red Records Stadium was devoid of quality, but Wimbledon are still within touching distance of the play-off places despite having one of the smallest budgets in the division.
Jackson says that it was always going to be difficult for his side to maintain their sensational start to the campaign.
“It’s miles above par,” he said after being asked to grade Wimbledon’s start to the season.
“If you look at the spreadsheets and stuff like that, we should be at the bottom of the league.
“We’re not, we’re competing, that’s something we all need to realise as well.
“We had a great start, obviously, we have not been picking up too many points of late, but that was naturally going to happen.
“You throw in injuries and illness, for us, we can’t ride that out, whereas some other teams can.
“So it is way above par, in my opinion.
“We have to accept what it was today, it was important that we didn’t lose, and we got a clean sheet.
“I thought we were the dominant team; without peppering their goal, we had control, so I have to give the lads credit for that.”
Lucas Akins had a shot saved after going one-on-one with Nathan Bishop in the first 50 seconds of the match, and Steve Seddon’s powerful effort hit the crossbar midway through the first half.
The draw brought Mansfield’s four-game losing run in League One to an end, and their manager Nigel Clough admitted that it was an important clean sheet.
“An important point and an important clean sheet, we have not had enough of those,” he said.
“The priority today was not to lose, we have lost four consecutive league games, and you have to stop the rot somewhere.
“To come away from home and do it with a 0-0 is very pleasing.
“Defensively, it was very pleasing today when we have conceded so many goals.
“They were as fragile as us after losing four on the spin, I thought in the last 10 or 15 minutes, we had a few reasonable situations.
“We kept the two players up front because we believed we could get a goal.
“It seemed quite inconsistent today, the yellow cards.
“It was the same the other night in the Bolton game, but today was yeah.
“It will be the end of the year or early January before we get anybody back.
“This will be very much the 18, so we have got to look after them.”
