Early goals left Dons with too much to do - Kasumu

Mikael Mandron's first-half brace left Dons with too big a mountain to climb as their four-match winning run came to an end against Crewe Alexandra on Monday, said David Kasumu.

The Dons midfielder echoed the thoughts of manager Russell Martin, both lamenting the team's poor opening 45-minutes against the Railwaymen and leaving themselves too much to do in the second-half to turn things around.

"We started too slowly and left ourselves too much to do," said Kasumu, who made his return from injury after nearly four months on the sidelines. "Being 2-0 down after 20 minutes isn't good enough. We lacked energy and intensity in the first half. The second half was a bit better but we left ourselves too much to do in the end.

"We knew we were still in it, we've been 2-0 down before and we've got quality which means we can come back from a couple of goals down. Today wasn't the day.

"The goalie made some terrific saves and on another day, they could be in and we're back in it. But it wasn't to be. He had a great game and saved a lot of big chances. At the end of the day, we have to take those chances though.

"We look forward to Ipswich. We have to bounce back quickly, we've got a few days of hard work, we'll look to Saturday and a better performance."