MK Dons boss Graham Alexander admitted his side did not show enough quality in the final third after they suffered their first defeat of the season at Crawley.
Mo Eisa struck his third goal of the season to cancel out Nick Tsaroulla's 16th-minute opener for Crawley, but Danilo Orsi's first goal for the Reds settled the issue shortly after the break.
Alexander felt his side did not do enough during the course of the game.
He explained: “There were moments in the game when we could have done better.
“But you have to be better defensively as a whole team and we turned the ball over quite cheaply for both goals. We didn't defend the two goals well.”
Alexander is seeking a reaction for the visit to Colchester on Saturday and said: “We were not good enough in the final third and now we have to be ready for the next challenge.
“It is an ongoing project and there are going to be bumps on the way. This was a bump.
“Take nothing away from Crawley – they have started the season really well.”
Crawley climbed to third in the table after clinching their second win in three games and boss Scott Lindsey said he was “proud” of how his team performed.
He said: “I'm pleased with the result but we are not getting carried away because it's only a start at the moment.
“We're really pleased with the way it has gone as we've signed a lot of players and it is pretty much a new team in many ways.
“There are six players who finished third from bottom, one who finished bottom (Liam Kelly), three others that other clubs didn't want and one player who has come out of non-league in the (National League) South.
“So when you think about it we've done that to some top teams over the last three games and we've been brilliant.”
Crawley are desperate to make up for last season's worst placing since entering the league, but former Swindon boss Lindsey said it was too early to call this a statement of intent.
He added: “We were heavily backed by a lot of media to get relegated. That's the way it is. Sometimes these people get it wrong.
“Thinking about what we have here, we have got real talent.”
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