Graham Alexander questioned the “resilience” of his misfiring MK Dons players and their desire to improve after their winless run hit eight Sky Bet League Two matches with a dramatic 2-2 draw against Barrow.
Emile Acquah’s stunning late leveller salvaged a point for the visitors at Stadium MK as the hosts threw away a 2-0 lead in stoppage time.
Max Dean’s first-half double looked to have set the Dons on the way to their first league win since August, but after substitute Ben Whitfield’s strike teed up a nervy finale, Acquah curled home to extend their rotten run and trigger loud boos at full-time.
Former Scotland international Alexander, 52, said: “It should be three points in the bag without a shadow of a doubt.
“But we have unbelievable ways of shooting ourselves in the foot. We’re making basic errors of judgement and bringing it on ourselves.
“The game should be done. We’ve have opportunities to see the game out and we’re not making good decisions.
“And then at 2-1, it’s a blind panic. I’m not going to lie, after the first one I could see it coming.
“It’s not a bunch of kids who have never played football before, it’s lads who have played 300 or 400 games.
“We have an issue in our heads, we should know exactly how to see this out. We can’t win a game of football that we should have won and we have to eradicate it.
“It’s not in the whole team. I can see the ones who can take on instructions and tactics and make decisions at the right time.
“And I can forgive young players who are 18, 19 or 20 for making mistakes in the game.
“I can see the ones that are not showing the improvement and resilience to improve our results. That’s the cold fact.”
The Dons seized the lead when Dean rifled home on the turn from the edge of the box via a slight deflection.
But Barrow rallied and could have grabbed a leveller as Robbie Gotts, Dean Campbell and Ged Garner all went close.
Dean punished their profligacy when he doubled the home side’s advantage 10 minutes before the break by reacting quickest to Paul Farman’s reaction stop to nod home from close range.
The Dons wasted multiple chances to put the game to bed in the second half before Whitfield and Acquah’s late intervention rescued Barrow a point.
Beaming Barrow boss Pete Wild said: “I honestly think that’s the least we deserve, we’ve had some really good passages of play.
“We passed the football like we had belief, but just didn’t hurt them enough in their box.
“Those two late goals are brilliant and the least we deserved.
“Emile has a really good finish about him and finished that really well.
“We dominated the football really well, but have still got work to do in both boxes.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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