Neil Ardley was left disappointed with AFC Wimbledon’s 2-0 defeat at League Two leaders Shrewsbury Town on Saturday.

The Dons fell behind during first-half injury time when Liam Lawrence scored before Scott Vernon doubled the host’s league shortly after the break.

Ardley said mistakes in the first-half cost his side the points despite an improved display in the second 45 minutes.

"I’m disappointed with the result. In the first 15 minutes we didn't pass it well enough and didn't have enough quality about us,” said Ardley.

"In the first half it was our decision making when we got in great areas. The final pass wasn't good enough.

"We wanted to have a real good go at it in the second half. We started bright and then you concede from a set piece, which we haven't done lately - that's hard to take.”

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He added: “But that’s why they are top of the league, they score and take their chances and it was hard after that.”

Wimbledon goalkeeper James Shea was forced to come off in the 23rd minute with a broken nose and he was replaced with debutant Joe McDonnell.

Ardley praised the 20-year-old for his efforts and also explained his reasons for the number of changes to his squad.

“It’s obviously a blow when you lose a goalkeeper like Shea, but I thought McDonnell came in and did incredibly well and then we grew into the game,” he said.

“We had a few niggles in the team. Bayo [Akinfenwa] had a tight groin after Tuesday night’s game and we thought we wouldn’t have as much ball as perhaps we do in other games.

“We tried to freshen it up a little bit in the week. Because we had other games coming up we decided to make this team selection.”