AFC Wimbledon: Notts County and Cheltenham Town results show big Johnnie Jackson issue | OneFootball

AFC Wimbledon's last two home games have shown that if the club want promotion this season, something has got to change with Johnnie Jackson

It's been quite a topsy-turvy few days in the world of AFC Wimbledon as after a brilliant win against Notts County to spark life back into a promotion push, the Dons fell to a heartbreaking defeat to Cheltenham Town on Tuesday night.

And having managed the match so fantastically on Saturday, getting the calls right in his lineup, making the necessary changes when the time was right during the game, and even dictating a very good post-match interview, Johnnie Jackson then followed it up with a less-than-ideal managerial performance during the Dons' last midweek fixture this season.

Notts County victory was Johnnie Jackson at his best

The victory on Saturday left the Wimbledon squad, management, and fans feeling on top of the world, having managed to beat one of their fierce promotion rivals.

A large driver of that elation was the way Jackson had set up his team, even in the days running up to the fixture.

Prior to the visit of County, the Dons had travelled to Morecambe, and with the Shrimps occupying the lowest reaches of the League Two table, a demolition was expected. And while the stats proved that to be the case, the scoreline read a disappointing 1-0 to Morecambe and JJ and his men came back down south with an awful lot of work to do.

Work is exactly what was put in at the training ground, with the tight turnaround meaning minds had to be quickly focused on playing strong attacking football that would put the Magpies on the backfoot from minute one.

And when the strongest possible lineup was announced, with an attacking focus outlined on the bench too, it was perhaps a little easy to begin to think the Dons had this fixture sussed out and that the three points were staying in SW19.

Those that did feel an air of confidence that the Dons were going to get back to winning ways in fantastic fashion were soon proven to be completely correct, as Jackson and his backroom staff's work with the players between the poor away defeat and the early Saturday kickoff clearly worked, as two first-half goals, including a rare one from a set-piece, saw off the Pies.

It was clear to all that Jackson knew that he had to get things going back in the right direction quickly, so to name an entirely new bench with fresh, young, attacking talent in abundance, alongside more experienced and familiar faces, was a welcomed change.

Then to instruct that team to just calmly attack and pick away at Notts County, like a preying vulture, was exactly what he needed to do after a few weeks of criticism, and it ultimately produced one of the best results that Wimbledon have had under the former Tottenham Hotspur player.

Johnnie Jackson has opened himself back up to criticism following Cheltenham defeat

However, for all those that felt as though the Dons would kick on following the resounding victory and that Jackson would have a problem-free end to the season, they were very quickly put back in their place after the Cheltenham Town defeat, and reminded that, for all his brilliance, he has one almighty downfall.

That downfall being his poor game management, which was evident to see throughout the second half against the Robins.

It can be argued that Wimbledon and Jackson were always going to be in trouble when it was announced he had riskily decided upon an unchanged squad from Saturday's victory. While it is sometimes best not to change a winning team, this Dons side has always faltered when Jackson has failed to rest key players.

And that is exactly what happened, as while, tactically, everything worked and the Dons created countless chances, there were tired legs and minds out on the pitch, and those soon turned to frustrated ones when things just weren't swinging in Wimbledon's favour, especially when the score was locked at 1-1.

With the two sides having scored one apiece, and with the Dons clearly on top but starting to get flat-footed, current Cheltenham and former Walsall boss Michael Flynn sniffed out the tiniest of opportunities, took the risk, made two changes and saw one of them net the winner.

Jackson, on the other hand, let his squad, who were creating chances but not finishing them off, continue on the pitch and opted against taking the plunge to his substitutes, creating a world of problems when he was forced to make more wholesale changes than that of just Josh Kelly, who was bought on to finally relieve Matty Stevens.

When he did make those multiple changes, it felt more like he was saving face rather than trying to claw something back from the game, as there couldn't have been much expectation from fans that some of the young attacking talent that was waiting for their opportunity on to come on, to make an impact in the short span of the five or ten minutes that they had.

So, following two tactically good displays from his team, the problem does once again boil down to Jackson, and how his want and might to stick to his Plan A gameplan is actually hurting the Dons' chances of promotion.

There is nothing wrong with the style of play or performance of players in bigger games where Wimbledon are not always going to be the better team, as stats are starting to show, but as the manager, Jackson has unfortunately opened himself back up to some criticism about how he approaches tight games where opposition defences are going to be tougher to break down.

It is not all doom and gloom as the Dons do have the chance to put things right quickly against two poorer sides in the upcoming weekends and face some more of their promotion rivals before the season ends, so perhaps there will be some points to gain there.

But until Jackson, his staff and his players figure out the best way to win games against sides who will sit in and defend for their lives, whether that be tactically or through much-improved game-management, then the issue and question mark that looms over his head in some supporters' minds will remain about whether the club, as it is, will be in a good state to deservedly win promotion to League One, and then make a good attempt at staying there, and not fall away.