Grimsby's 10-men 'made it hard' for Dons

Harry Davis' red card shortly before half time, with the home side already ahead through Wes Thomas' header, saw the balance of the game shift in the second period as Dons poured forwards. But despite having 18 shots, the visitors only one was on target as they slumped to their third defeat in a row.

Watson, making his first league start since October, said Grimsby's decision to sit deeper in the second half made it harder for Dons to create anything clear cut.

He said: "Maybe we needed to create more when we were down to 10 men, but they sat behind the ball and made it hard for us. We will always look to create chances. They sat back, but credit to them for winning the game. They didn't look to create anything in that second half, but we have to do better.

"We've had a dip in form but the performance wasn't too bad. We did create chances and we did some good stuff and sometimes it happens. It hasn't been great in the last seven games, we know that, everyone knows that, we have to get back to what we do best.

"It's down to us to figure out how to beat these teams. We are a good team, there's no getting away from it, and we should be beating teams that we've lost to. I think we will, we're all working hard.

"We came here to win the game. We did create a few chances, which we have to take a positive from. We need another game really to get back on track."