As far as farewells go, Terry Brown's final night as the manager of AFC Wimbledon certainly tugged at the heart strings.

Brown's reaction after the League Two defeat to Torquay United on Tuesday night suggested the end was nye, although no one apart from the board and Brown himself were completely aware of the implications of back-to-back home defeats.

The 60-year-old, who took over the manager's job in 2007, said: "I had a heart-to-heart with Erik [Samuelson] on the day of the Torquay match and realistically we needed to get at least one win out of the two home games.

"That is the way the board were looking at it – we didn’t do that so I knew the writing was on the wall."

At the final whistle, Brown took a lap of the ground applauding the fans and barely holding back the tears.

He said: "We knew what was coming, but it gave us an opportunity to thank the supporters. They were even singing 'Terry Brown’s yellow and blue army' at the end for which I will be forever grateful."

On the manner of the defeat to Torquay, Brown was philosophical saying: "It was another game summed up by a calamitous goal which you could not make up, coming off the arse of Rene Howe.

"If you’re going to go, that’s the way to go. I was thinking this is not meant to be and in both games [including the Rochdale defeat] we had nothing that went our way and you think, ah well, maybe that’s time."

Caretaker manager Simon Bassey takes charge of the team for the League Two trip to Wycombe Wanderers tomorrow (Saturday).