MK Dons star says 'it's brilliant' they have been written off in second leg of play-offs against Crawley Town

Crawley Town dominated the first leg at the Broadfield Stadium and Mike Williamson’s side now face an uphill task to reach the final at Wembley, which takes place on Sunday, May 19.

Dons finished fourth in the League Two table and on paper were favourites going into the semi-final. But goals from Liam Kelly, Jay Williams and Ronan Darcy have put them on the back foot.

But Gilbey, who has scored 13 league goals this season, says ‘bring it on’. He said: “The other night was really disappointing, we didn't handle the occasion well enough. We were so far away from what we've prided ourselves on all year. What we've done really well this year is be in people's face, be front footed, attack and score goals. It was a big occasion and people handle it differently, and as a group we didn't. But luckily enough we've got another chance to put it right.“A lot of people have written us off, but for us, it's brilliant. Bring it on. We know, and I know how much ability and talent we've got in the dressing room, how many of the lads want to put it right. There are a lot of people in there who are really disappointed.“We know what we need to do, what the game plan is and we need to attack it.

“Crawley are a top team, and fair play to them, on the night the better team won. But we let ourselves down, the fans down on the night, and the lads aren't happy about that. We've got a lot to prove tomorrow night, and I'm excited thinking about it.”

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Dons boss Williamson, who has been nominated for EFL Manager of the Year – Scott Lindsey hasn’t says there is still everything to play for.

"There are no bones about it - we weren't good enough in the first leg, but we have to be at home,” he said. “I know these boys can suffer but use, so that's the fuel, and our quality speaks for itself.

"You can look at comebacks like Liverpool (vs Barcelona) and Sheffield Wednesday (vs Peterborough) but I only look at these boys - we lost 5-0, we won the next game 5-0. Our records speak for themselves, but the stakes are extremely high: it's a season in a game. All we can do is control what we can control. The quality inspires me, and the character and personality we saw come into training gives me hope.

"We're not hiding from that first leg, but we've got a bulletproof mentality of coming back from painful defeats. The Stockport defeat was the first time I saw some of the lads get knocked, but the response was incredible. Setbacks are a platform to move forward. We're in this game for the biggest challenges, we want to be involved in the biggest games. We didn't plan to come into the home game with a 3-0 deficit, but that's the facts in the cold light of day. Do I believe we can win at home by three goals? Of course I do.“We knew how good they would be at home, they've got a very similar home record to us. They were physical, and they took their chance, we didn't. I can live with that. We came up short, and that's fine with me, but they had to give everything and sitting here now, we've still got everything to play for.”