DONS boss Mark McGhee blamed individual errors from Jamie Langfiend and Jerel Ifil for almost leading to another painful cup exit at the hands of a lower-league side.
The Dons came from 2-1 down to defeat Raith Rovers thanks to new striking sensation Scott Vernon's second half double in the Co-operative Insurance Cup.
Vernon has made it four goals in only three starts for the Dons and has Reds fans hoping that McGhee has finally unearthed a quality goalscorer to be mentioned in the same breath as Stavrum and Shearer.
And the Dons boss believes that the way the team bounced back from the blunders demonstrates the change in attitude between his new squad and the side that surrendered meekly in both cup competitions last season.
He told RedWeb: "To come back from 2-1 down in those circumstances shows that we have moved on as last year I don't think we would have been able to do that.
"We lost two goals that were our own doing. The pressure of Raith Rovers in chasing everything down contributed to that but I think we didn't have to concede either of the goals.
"Jerel Ifil and Jamie Langfield both could have done better. At half-time we told the players in no uncertain terms that we had to be more competitive in the second half and I think we were and eventually got the result we deserved."
