Keeping it simple helped Kasumu and Corbeanu impress Manning

David Kasumu made only his 12th start of the season on Saturday after more than a month of substitute appearances. Theo Corbeanu has also seen starts in matches limited recently.

After making their first starts for more than a month on Saturday, Liam Manning said he was impressed with both David Kasumu and Theo Corbeanu in the 2-0 win over Morecambe.

Kasumu had to look back to March 19 for his last start, coming in the 1-0 win away at Cambridge while Corbeanu’s last start came on March 8 in the 3-1 victory over Cheltenham Town.

Following back-to-back defeats at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday and Oxford United prior to Saturday’s game against relegation scrappers Morecambe, Manning made two changes to his side to bring in the pair at the expense of Josh McEachran and Hiram Boateng.

Both put in solid shifts as Harry Darling and Daniel Harvie scored the goals to keep Dons in the automatic promotion hunt, and earned praise from head coach Manning afterwards.

“I was pleased with their impacts,” he said. “We need the squad, and that's even more reason to be prepared, deliver what is asked of you when the team needs it. Those guys stepping in, they did what the team needed today.

“Sometimes you can want to impress by doing something out of the ordainry but that was not the case. We asked them to do the basics and then bring what they can to the team.”