Lewington's 'light burning out a little' as he waits to make call on his future

Skipper Dean Lewington’s future at MK Dons might have a different feel to it as he said he may take more of a backseat from playing.

The 39-year-old has made just 24 appearances this season - the lowest of his career - and admitted he has struggled at times this year coming to terms with his lack of first-team action.

Despite moving within 62 games of 1,000 career outings, Lewington, who is out of contract at the end of the season, said he is having to adapt to his new role within the squad, and not being as regular in the side as he would have liked.

“It has been difficult,” he said. “I've not really enjoyed it but you have to get your head around it and find a way of approaching it and trying to be useful for the team and the squad.

“I struggled to be fair. The first six weeks of it I found really tough. For 20 years, it was something I'd never had to do. There are different reasons why you're in the team or not - manager's preference sometimes - but at this stage of my career, it's a different kind of reason which brings it's own challenges - that light burning out a little bit.”

When discussing his future beyond the end of the season, Lewington said he wanted to see past the play-offs before thinking about his plans into his 40s.

He said: “I still feel in good shape, but my role is changing a little bit. It won't be a case of starting every week, but there is still life in me yet.

“It think it will be combining it with other roles, not just solely football. Maybe delving into the behind-the-scenes things, and seeing what's going on. But we'll worry about that down the line.”