Milton Keynes Dons

after goals from Red Devils duo Andy Drury and Mike Jones condemned them to a sixth straight home defeat.mkstadiumKarl Robinson’s failed to build on an impressive win at Coventry City in their last outing at

With the loss, the men from MK1 slipped nine points adrift of the play-off places heading into the Easter fixtures and speaking after the game Randall pointed to a sloppy first-half as the telling factor in the defeat.

The former Arsenal midfielder said: “We were sloppy at the start and for the whole of the first half, really. We got a bit of a roasting at half-time and in the second half we were a little bit better but we just started so badly and you can’t do that in this league.

“I don’t know whether we thought were going to win before the game or what it was, we were just sloppy and looked tired. 

“You can definitely understand the fans' frustration. We’re sorry to the fans for playing like we did. We keep getting so close (to the play-offs) but I think now we’ve thrown it away. 

“If we keep playing like that we’re not going to win anything so we need to stick together, pick ourselves back up and if we can get back to playing the way we can play then we could win every game and that’s the only way we’d give ourselves a chance.”

On a personal level, the Crawley game saw Randall make his first Dons start since returning to the club and also make a return to stadiummk for the first time since May 2010.

The playmaker looked comfortably alongside Dele Alli and Alan Smith in the Dons’ midfield but was left feeling disappointed at the final whistle after not being able to cap his return with a victory.

“I was surprised to see that I was starting because I haven’t started a game since coming back from Italy at the start of November,” Randall added. “Fitness-wise I felt quite good but I maybe had a little lack of sharpness but I didn’t feel too bad.

“Just to get a game again is unbelievable and I’m just really gutted we couldn’t get the win.”