JOHNNIE Jackson was left questioning AFC Wimbledon’s Jekyll and Hyde performance in today’s 4-1 reverse at Morecambe.
The Dons were looking to quickly bounce back from Tuesday’s 4-2 home defeat against Accrington and delivered an impressive opening 45 minutes, even if they didn’t get their just rewards with a goal.
Jackson demanded more of the same at the interval, feeling fully confident his side could maintain their undefeated record on the road if they produced more of the same.
But just like in midweek when they were trailing 2-0 to Accrington and conceded a third at the beginning of the second-half, Wimbledon did the exact same thing today and fell behind shortly after the restart to Micky Mellon’s opener.
The unfortunately placed Joe Lewis then added a second for the hosts with an own goal before Omar Bugiel conceded a penalty which was duly converted by Mellon just after the hour.
Armani Little stopped the rot with a 72nd minute strike but Mellon still had plenty of time to seal his hat-trick late on and complete a miserable day in the north west for the Londoners.
Jackson told afcwimbledon.co.uk: “It’s difficult to explain to explain the difference from the first-half to the first 20 minutes in the second-half. We were doing everything that we needed to do, bar scoring.
“We were completely dominant and playing perhaps the best football that we have all season.
“If we had taken our chances, we’d have been going in 2-0 up.
“At half-time we spoke about needing to keep doing the things that were bringing us joy and that the goals would come.
“We went off script and conceded a goal after 30 seconds.
“The complexion changed and we lost our way for 15 minutes, lost our composure and everything that was good in the first-half.”
The manager added: “We went individual for that period – you can’t have success doing that.
“By the time we found ourselves again, we were out the game because we conceded three unbelievably poor goals.
“We then rallied and for the last 25 minutes at the end we looked like the good team we can be.
“It was a painful lesson.”
Jackson also spoke of his gratitude to the travelling Dons faithful who made a second long trek north in the space of a week for the way they had reacted to the result.
He said: “I told the lads that we should thank our lucky stars that we got clapped off at the end because that could have gone a different way.
“The supporters are the real heroes of the day because of the way they got behind us.
“They’ve applauded us off, they’ve come in their numbers and we’ve let them down in that period.
“We feel for them, we’ve got to put it right.
“It’s what we can do, it’s in our power.
“We thank them for that support and wish them a safe journey home.”
