Difficult debuts for new Dons signings Tomlinson and Payne

Two Dons debutants faced a tough task when coming on in Saturday’s defeat to Crewe Alexandra.

Joe Tomlinson and Jack Payne were brought off the bench during the 3-1 defeat to the Railwaymen at the Mornflake Stadium, after joining the club earlier this week.

While Payne was added to the squad on Wednesday, Tomlinson was a deadline day signing, completing his deal just in time to be included in the squad to head to Cheshire.

The former Peterborough man was brought on just as Crewe had equalised through Conor Thomas, while Payne was brought on with Dons chasing as they trailed 2-1.

With the team turning in a poor performance in the second-half, neither were really able to make a big impact.

“It was tough for them, coming into a game that's in full swing,” said head coach Graham Alexander. “We were trying to make a change just before their first goal to change things tactically, but unfortunately they scored at that very moment.

“But we wanted to crack on with it because I felt we could go on and win it.

“It was difficult because in the last 20 minutes, the game lost a bit of pattern. Jack has only trained with us twice, and Joe only once. They now have time to get up to speed tactically, I think physically they'll be fine. But we're glad they're here.”

Though Ellis Harrison and Anthony Stewart were signed too late to be included in the matchday squad at Crewe, Mo Eisa was deemed fit enough to make the bench after suffering a foot injury against Doncaster this time last week.

The striker though remained unused as a sub after reporting more pain in his foot at half-time.

Alexander added: “He complained his foot was sore even at half-time. We could have risked someone who is important for us, he could miss six weeks if he broke down.

“But we had faith in our squad to go and win the game. It was not down to any one individual playing or missing today. It was about the group not sticking to the principles of what we did so well in the first-half.”