JOHNNIE Jackson said his players couldn’t feel sorry for themselves and needed to “double down” on the hard work after their 2-1 defeat to League Two Crewe Alexandra in the first round of the FA Cup at Mornflake Stadium last weekend.
Crewe’s Charlie McNeill opened the scoring with a stunning goal in the twelfth minute. After controlling a long ball forward, McNeill turned and lobbed goalkeeper Josef Bursik from halfway.
Conor Thomas made it 2-0 in the 62nd minute before Dons substitute Andy Yiadom drilled a shot into the bottom-right corner with eight minutes left.
The visitors couldn’t force an equaliser and are now ten games without a win.
The Dons are two points above the League One relegation zone ahead of hosting Blackpool next weekend.
“We need to be better in training. We need to be more ruthless. We need to demand more of each other, because in the end, it’s the right-back who’s popped up with a goal,” Jackson said on the club’s website.
“But beyond that, when Jayden [Stockey] is not scoring, we’re not getting goals from other places. Midfielders need to get in the box and score. Other forwards need to get involved. Wing-backs need to produce crosses and they need to get on the end of crosses on the other side.
“People need to start chipping in and at the back, we need to be tighter.
“We’ve got three big league games in November that we have to take some points from and that we feel like we can take points from.
“But we have to go and do it now. The only way that you get out of these runs, these ruts, is by doubling down on the hard work. No one’s going to feel sorry for us, so we’ll just be working even harder.
“The boys are working hard. It’s nothing to do with how hard they’re trying, but we’re just lacking quality in moments and probably now lacking a little bit of confidence to have the conviction in their moments, but you get through it by hard work.”
