THE FA Cup’s biggest giant killers AFC Wimbledon were slain in their own back yard at the weekend – and Dons boss Johnnie Jackson said: “We got what we deserved.”
Wimbledon beat Liverpool in the 1988 final – the biggest-every shock in a decider – but National League Gateshead wrote their own glorious chapter in their history with a 2-0 victory at Plough Lane.
Kain Adom put the visitors ahead in the 21st minute and Fenton John doubled the lead early in the second half for a side 57 places below the League One Dons in the ladder.
It was the Heed’s first FA Cup win over EFL opponents since 2000 and only the second time in a decade Wimbledon had failed to get past he first round.
“I think it was a poor performance from us, we got what we deserved. Gateshead were a better team and they deserved to win the game,” Jackson said on Dons TV.
“For that to be the case, I know we’ve ended up having some chances and chasing the game, stuff like that, but you know they saw it out. They saw it out well and we haven’t done enough.
“So I’m disappointed with the nature of the performance really. Obviously the result, we were out the FA Cup and that bit hurts – wanting to get through, but the actual performance, it’s probably even more annoying because that hasn’t been us at all.
“We’ve thrown a stinker in there. We have to be honest in what we just saw. Too many performances, too many players not at it, underperformed, nowhere near the levels that they’ve shown.
“They’ve shown what they’re capable of. So when you serve that up and you come off of it, it just makes it even more obvious and glaring.
“That’s annoying from my point of view. I won’t accept that. We have to accept the result was what we deserved out of it – which is nothing.”
Wimbledon are sixth in League One as they chase a second successive promotion, but they didn’t look like their level against the underdogs.
Jackson said: “Just too many under-performances. Players that show – week in, week out – generally, a certain level, [but they] haven’t done it. Haven’t done it.
“It’s annoying, because we prepared really well. We didn’t take the opposition lightly, made the group really, really aware of their threats, showed them the respect that we always would have against any opposition.
“I felt like we would do more to hurt them for sure and that’s part of the reason that our performance was off, because we didn’t do as many of the things that I think could have hurt them.
“Just the fundamentals of football. We were second to most duels, we lost headers, we let people run off us. That’s been our absolute bedrock of our success over the last couple of seasons.
“So for that to be missing is not good. From my point of view, that’s not good and I think that shows complacency. I think we showed complacency today and it has cost us.”
Wimbledon are back in league action this Saturday against Peterborough United at London Road (3pm).
