By Martin Atherton
Though they were able to salvage a point, MK Dons will walk away disappointed after drawing 1-1 at home with 22nd-placed Burton Albion.
The Dons saw 70% of possession throughout the afternoon and made nearly 600 passes, but ultimately failed to find a winner against a resolute Brewers side who executed a fine game plan.
As I write every week, the Dons fell behind within the opening 10 minutes – Cam Jerome failing to deal with a loose ball in the area before Colin Daniel neatly slotted home past Fisher. 0-1. Shock.
And whilst you’d think the goal would spark MK into life, it was in fact the complete opposite. Martin’s side failed to get any sort of hold on the game and were completely outplayed by their opposition for the opening exchanges, Lewington and Kasumu among the worst offenders of the afternoon.
Keogh, who would prove to be a resolute last line for the Dons in the first half, was forced into an outstanding block after Vernam had been found through on goal after a loose pass from the Dons’ captain.
Ryan Edwards did then nearly double the away side’s lead after being found completely neglected by Gladwin and Lewie at the back, but his effort sailed well wide of Fisher’s goal. HT 0-1.
Harvie replacing Gladwin and a clear message from their manager at half-time, the Dons came back out rejuvenated and took the game to their opponents.
Jerome – who had looked the home side’s most creative outlet until the halfway mark – so nearly came close to levelling the scoring, but the veteran saw his effort tipped over the bar by Jamie O’Hara.
But the Dons finally found that elusive equaliser as Morris was hacked down in the area for a penalty. Former Brewer Fraser stepped up to deny his old club their first away win of the season, hammering his spot-kick past O’Hara for his sixth of the season. 1-1!
From then on, it was all one-way traffic as MK looked for a winner.
Fraser saw a free-kick shoot high and wide as he looked to double his tally against his former employers. O’Hora came close with a header, though it was well stopped on the line by almost-namesake O’Hara.
But it wasn’t meant to be as the away side comfortably saw out the game without the Dons causing too much an issue, Martin’s side dropping into 17th and five points from the top-half. FT 1-1
An inability to adapt to games early on once again failing the home outfit, but overall, they were incredibly poor and little can defend their performance this afternoon.
Burton saw far less of the ball but made so much more from what they had. The Dons have a long way to go before knocking on the door of the top-half of League One, a tough game against Peterborough awaiting them next.
