DAVE Artell delivered some uncomfortable home truths as Crewe's dressing room door was kept closed for around 70 minutes after a heavy defeat.

The Alex boss wasn't holding back when he questioned how some of his players are accepting the "inevitability" of setbacks at the moment. For sure they will need to show more resolve on Tuesday night when second-bottom Doncaster arrive at the Mornflake Stadium.

Defeat to struggling Donny would not only be a psychological blow in the relegation dogfight, but it could leave Artell and his players with a mountain to climb, even at this early stage of the campaign, to make up the points defecit now standing at seven to safety.

The after-match inquest will have been a tough listen for Crewe's players, but while they succumbed to easily in the closing stages, ironically MK Dons Head Coach Liam Manning was full of praise for the way they emerged in the second half to take the fight to his promotion-chasing team.

In fact, when Chris Long cancelled out Mo Eisa's first-half opener with a far-post finish in the 52nd-minute there was a 10-minute spell when the game could have gone either way.

Crewe's press was a cause for concern for the visitors, who had dominated the first period without being particularly threatening. But sloppy defending offered the Dons the opportunity to re-establish their superiority and like any good team they cut loose at the end.

Artell said: "I said to the players a few home truths and told a few exactly where they're at.

"I've told them there's no magic want, but there is hard work and resilience. There's an acceptance that will do and that has got to change.

"MK Dons didn't have to work hard for it. The players have got to understand they have to be better and not make the mistakes they made. You can't expect to make mistakes like that and win games of football.

"We've got to change their mindset. We scored a 27-pass goal against a former Championship club last weekend, but in the first half today we couldn't string two passes together.

"There's a sense of inevitability about it and that is codswallop. We can't accept that as staff and the players shouldn't."

Asked whether he was facing his toughest times at Crewe since taking over in January 2017, the Crewe boss pointed out: "Well we were 19th/21st in League Two when we first came in so it wasn't sweetness and light then.

"But the players now have got to understand the severity of where we're at.

"And we'll keep working with hard with them and try make them better."

While the Dons took control of the first half after Mo Eisa stabbed David Kasumu's low cross home in the 12th-mintue, Crewe should have led before then after excellent work from J'Neil Bennett on the left offered Rio Adebisi an easy header, only for the right-back to place it against the post from six yards.

Bennett did offer a threat down the left, but fizzled out all too often. The Spurs loanee tried his luck with an ambitious overhead kick on the end of Long's pull-back, but it was always heading wide.

Long showed glimpses of his pace and certainly an eye for an unlikely chance as he grabbed his first in Crewe colours when making the most of a far-post cross to squeeze in a tight finish (52).

Crewe looked to have surprised Manning's men at that stage, but Matt O'Riley punished a weak headed clearance to fire into the bottom corner (64) before Jaaskelainen made up for bringing down Eisa by saving the frontman's spotkick.

But the game was over when Peter Kioso's shot went off Donervon Daniels (82) and sub Max Watters rubbed it in when he was put clear and fired under Jaaskelainen in stoppage time (90+6).

While not disguising Crewe's very real problems, it was perhaps a flattering margin of victory as MK's Manning pointed out: "We had to show that understanding and experience of managing the momentum with the game being so close at half-time. We knew Crewe were going to come out fired up and have a real push - we have to do better managing those situations.

"Like we've done so many times this season we concede and then we wake up and come to life again. But I'm delighted that maybe we were not at our best and we still scored four goals,"

Crewe: Jaaskelainen; Adebisi, Offord, Daniels, McFadzean; Lowery (Gomes), Murphy (Knight), Robertson; Long, Mandron (Porter), Bennett.

Subs: Ravizzoli, Watson, Martin, Baldwin.