Brittain keeps the faith but blasts Dons' Southend showing

Dons squandered two leads at Roots Hall, first when Jason Demetriou's penalty cancelled out Joe Mason's opener, before Rob Kiernan headed in after Rhys Healey had restored Dons' advantage in the second half.

Despite turning in the worst showing under Russell Martin since he took over in early November, Dons closed the gap to safety to two points after Tranmere's 4-2 defeat to Burton Albion.

However, Brittain says taking a point away from Southend - whose only win this season came at Stadium MK in September - was a catalogue of errors.

He said: "A point is better than nothing of course but we're disappointed because we wanted three. It turned into a battle in the second half which we're not really happy about. But it's a point.

"When you're on top, you want to stay secure for the next 10 minutes and then go again. It's disappointing to concede straight away, and we have to get better at that. They scored from a set-piece and a penalty – not from open play. It's too easy, and it's something we have to work on.

"We've got to look at ourselves because it wasn't good enough today, second half especially. We turned it into a game that suited them. We've gone on a bit of a run, things have changed but it's not good enough and we need to get better. Hopefully, we're back at home again on Sunday and it might be a bit more like our game.

"We've got players that can do it. Russ believes in us massively, and we have to start believing in ourselves more.

"The structure Russ has brought and the way we play allows us to go forward and be attacking and it shows with the goals. But we cannot concede from a corner and a ball in behind. On that side, it's not good enough."