The cliché of football being a game of two halves doesn’t always apply. This was a game of three thirds. The Dons dominating the first five minutes, scoring a cracking goal after just 50 seconds, and they had the lion’s share of possession and chances in the final five in which they tested Crawley’s resilience with a nostalgic aerial bombardment that led to them spurning two takeable opportunities in injury time. The problem for Wimbledon was that Crawley had by far the better of the middle 80 minutes and thoroughly deserved the three points.

The Dons took the lead with less than a minute on the clock. Crawley defender Matt Langston, making his debut after joining on “emergency loan” from Histon, misjudged Sam Hatton’s long ball and headed it into the path of Danny Kedwell, who saw Simon Rayner off his line and lobbed the Crawley keeper from 25 yards with the deftest of Rooneyesque touches for his 18th league goal of the season.

Crawley looked shaken by the early set-back, and the combination of some typically earnest and energetic running from Lewis Taylor, coupled with the strength of Kedwell and Nathan Elder, were adding to their unease. A second goal, you suspected, would have killed off the game with 90% of it still to play.

However, the home side regained their composure and set about testing the Dons’ resolve. Some neat interplay between Barry Cogan and Ben Smith set up Charlie Ademeno, but he shot tamely wide; James Pullen then made a fine save, getting everything behind a crisply hit Danny Forrest drive. Paul Lorraine and Ben Judge (a former Crawley boss, of course) were as busy as they had been all season. The pacy Ademeno, the Reds’ sole striker, was well supported by wide men Smith and Forrest, and former Don Glenn Wilson causing Wimbledon’s defenders problems in the air.

When Crawley equalised on 18 minutes, it was two of those players that did the damage. A Crawley corner was cleared by Judge, but the Dons’ tactic of not leaving anyone forward when defending a corner cost them dear: the ball was chipped back into the box, the giant Wilson headed on, and Forrest was left all alone on the penalty spot to sweep calmly past Pullen.

Ademeno then had two decent chances to give Town the lead, but he spurned them both, shooting high and wide, the second attempt after he’d turned Lorraine inside out.

The Dons held out until half-time without ever looking like scoring themselves, but six minutes into the second half, Ademeno struck. When Cogan fed him a simple pass he was 25 yards out with his back to goal, and didn’t appear to pose any immediate threat. But he turned Lorraine brilliantly and fired a low drive past the despairing Pullen and into the bottom left corner of the net.

It wouldn’t be fair on the Dons to say that the floodgates then opened. But for the next 20 minutes Wimbledon, for whom Ricky Wellard had made an unannounced appearance after the interval to replace Glenn Poole, were made perfectly aware that there were some floodgates nearby and that they could, at some point, be prised apart.

It seemed only a matter of time before Crawley scored again, and but for some last-ditch defending by Judge and Lorraine and a couple of decent saves by Pullen, they would have done. Crawley boss Steve Evans then sprung a surprise by taking Ademeno off and replacing him with midfielder Mike Malcolm. The home side were now effectively playing 4-6-0 and were clearly settling for a 2-1 victory.

This should have given the Dons the impetus they needed, but sadly they passed up the opportunity to get back into the game with some woeful passing and misunderstandings. First, Hatton’s overhit pass forced Taylor to stretch to keep it in, and he fell awkwardly as he attempted to get his cross in and crumpled in a heap beyond the touchline. As he hobbled back towards the dressing room he was visibly upset and limping badly. It’s too early to know the extent of the injury, but it didn’t look good.

Hatton then wasted the first of three chances when he took a free-kick near the edge of the penalty area too quickly and the ball rolled meekly to Rayner. Hatton then blasted another free-kick from a similar position into the car park, and finally overhit a third from slightly further out, much to the growing frustration of the 750 Dons fans behind the goal.

Luke Moore then replaced Nathan Elder, and just as they had done against Altricham, the Dons perked up. Moore’s presence seemed to panic Langston and Karl Broadhurst into persistently fouling him, but the referee - under ever increasing pressure from Evans and his assistant Paul Raynor - failed to spot the majority of these offences, to the obvious annoyance of Messrs Brown, Cash and, most notably, Bassey.

With time ticking away, Lorraine was pushed up front, which almost paid immediate dividends when only a Simon Rusk intervention at the near post prevented the defender from equalising; from the resulting corner his far-post header found only the side-netting. Moore then slipped after he’d worked himself into a great shooting position, and although Langston clambered over him to clear, the Dons man was already on the floor. Then, in injury time the Dons were denied a clear penalty when both Wilson and Broadhurst manhandled Moore to the ground, but again the referee failed to see it. Bassey’s frustration got the better of him, and with the help of Evans and Raynor, the Dons coach was banished to the stands.

And with him went the Dons’ chances of closing the gap on fifth place. Three points from this game would have put them one point off a playoff spot with a game in hand, but apart from the early and late spells of Wimbledon pressure, Crawley were always the better team - going forward they were perhaps the best side the Dons have faced this season, other than Oxford. Crawley have taken four points off the Dons this season - and potentially the shine off what could still be a momentous season.