Despite defeated Coventry City - statistically, at least - dominating League Two opponents AFC Wimbledon in the EFL Cup on Wednesday evening, Mark Robins argued that his side didn't deserve to progress into the second round and considered that they were fortunate to head in at half-time in front.

Matty Godden marked the signing of his new contract with a converted penalty won by strike partner Haji Wright, but despite man of the match Nik Tzanev denying the Sky Blues attack time and again, Robins claimed that his team - who had 28 shots and 11 on target - didn't merit qualifying for the next round after late goals from Omar Bugiel and Ryan McLean turned the tie on its head and set the Dons up with a trip to Chelsea in the second round.

"It's a bad habit," Robins reflected. "It's a brilliant goal, their second one, but I don't think we deserved anything anyway. We could've won if we'd have done things right, but we didn't. We didn't pick the right passes out and went too long at times. It was unlike us. We couldn't get to grips with our midfield and really they should've been a couple of goals up before the penalty.

"We were lucky coming in one up at half time, and we spoke about it, about how to put things right and be better. We end up looking poor in the second half too. It's a new team, so I have to be careful what I am saying, and we're making substitutions for physical rather than tactical reasons at the moment because we're trying to get everyone fit.

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"We just couldn't get going. With the substitutions we made, when Gus comes off - and he's not up to speed just yet, he needs more minutes under his belt - it doesn't link very well at the moment and that is something we have to work on. It's a work in progress and the games come thick and fast. We just didn't cope with them well enough tonight, which is majorly disappointing."

There is a need for patience, of course. Robins gave five players full debuts at Plough Lane, and while there were promising signs here and there, clearly cohesion and a need to gel remains at the forefront of Robins' priorities right now. He is certain that, in time, as players build up minutes and spend more time developing understanding, that'll come.

"We have new players in," he added. "Haji [Wright] goes through, and if he passes across where there are two players then it's a tap-in. That's at 1-0, and if you go 2-0 up then it's really game done. We didn't take that second chance and you then run the risk. They get a goal back and their tails are up. You expect to defend properly.

"Milan [van Ewijk] had run his race. We bring Josh on, the ball gets played over - we didn't deal with it on the other side of the pitch - and it's a brilliant finish. From us, it's so poor and you are just ruing the missed opportunities. It was disjointed but it wasn't all that surprising because of the turnaround and the change and the team - it didn't look like a team in the middle of the park - but things will get better."