Dons 'weren't up to scratch' in any metric against Crawley

MK Dons head coach Mike Williamson admitted the 3-0 play-off first leg defeat to Crawley Town was nearly all of their nightmares come true.

Outplayed by Scott Lindsey’s side, Dons face a mountain to climb in the return leg on Saturday at Stadium MK as they bid for their first ever Wembley play-off final, but they will need to turn in a far better performance than the one they showed at the Broadfield Stadium.

Trailing to Liam Kelly’s early goal, Dons were caught napping in first-half stoppage time when Jay Williams poked in Crawley’s second before a deflection took Ronan Darcy’s cross over Michael Kelly’s head.

Distinctly second best all night, when asked if his nightmares had just been witnessed in front of him, Williamson said: “It's close to it in footballing terms. I think the disappointing thing is that we didn't even look like us. We've got to assess that and put it right.

“I thought in the first-half, we didn't pick up enough second balls, we weren't aggressive enough. The reaction in the second-half saw us control things a little more, but I think we needed to be more patient in some areas. We wanted to score so much. In all areas and metrics, we weren't up to scratch.

“We have to dust ourselves down and choose to react in a way, of keeping our heads, and we've got believe that we have more than enough to over turn this.”