AFC Wimbledon boss Neal Ardley admitted defeat in Saturday’s League Two curtain-raiser to Plymouth Argyle was a “reality check”.

A first-half Gregg Wylde volley and a deflected Graham Carey strike after the break condemned the Dons to a 2-0 reverse at the Cherry Red Records stadium.

The hosts started brightly and had the Pilgrims on the back foot with a succession of corners, but they could not make their pressure pay and they were punished.

Ardley admitted that work needed to be done on the front three of Tom Elliott, Adebayo Akinfenwa and Lyle Taylor after an insipid second half performance.

“We need to get the front boys fitter and more dynamic, and we are trying that in training,” he said.

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“Lyle [Taylor] came in late, Tom [Elliott] has missed a couple of weeks with a back injury.

“Adebayo [Akinfenwa] manages himself through pre-season and normally comes alive when the season starts.

“We need them, they are important players. I told them, if we are going to play with three up front, they need to be unplayable, they need to be at it.

“Against Plymouth, they were for 30 minutes, then not for 50 minutes.”

He added: “It was not the result, not the performance, not the anything really. It’s a bit of a reality check – I am learning about the new players all the time, and they are learning about me.

“For 30 minutes we had a great intensity and energy, and we caused them all sorts of problems.

“But we needed a goal at that point because you know the energy will drop at some point and Plymouth will get a foothold.”

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Andy Barcham's first half performance was a highlight

He added: “At half-time we didn’t feel we deserved to be 1-0 down, but the message was start the second half with the energy that we started the game – we didn’t and we never got going.

“After their second goal, we lost our heads, it’s as simple as that. We became a team of individuals.

“The game got stretched and the energy at the top of the pitch was not good enough, and because of that the ball kept coming back and because of that we could get out.

“Before you know it, Plymouth were dictating the game.”

The Dons go to Cardiff City on Tuesday night in the first round of the Capital One Cup, ahead of a return to league action at Crawley Town on Saturday.

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