By Martin Atherton
MK Dons were fairly comfortably swept aside 3-2 at bogey ground Gillingham, Grigg and O’Hora both finding the net for Martin’s side.
Though Martin’s men comfortably saw out the better of the first twenty minutes or so and appeared to be clear on top, three lapses in concentration at the back condemned them to a second defeat in three.
Still, a number of Dons players managed to impress – including young Matt O’Riley, whose midfield partnership with Scott Fraser continued to flourish and provide the Dons with that important creative spark.
It didn’t take the boys from MK1 long at all to rubberstamp their hold onto the game as Will Grigg fired home from 25 yards to complete a 55-pass move, some excellent hold-up play from Jerome giving the striker a clear shot on goal on his 50th Dons outing. 0-1!
But, whilst it had looked as if the Dons were cruising, a lapse in concentration from the normally oh-so-reliable Warren O’Hora gave away a cheap handball penalty, Jordan Graham subsequently converting from the spot. 1-1.
And things then got even worse, a poor back-header from Surman being picked up by former Northampton player Vadaine Oliver and easily converted past Andrew Fisher. 2-1.
But whilst it looked as if the Dons would go into the break behind, O’Hora popped up to make amends for his prior mistake and level things – some excellent work from Grigg seeing the ball squared to the Irishman and tapped into an empty net! 2-2!
The second half, though, provided far little entertainment – especially for the few hundred odd Dons fans watching on iFollow.
The fog came down rapidly as the first few minutes were played out, making it difficult to see what was happening at the Dons’ attacking end – mind, not overly important given the way things panned out.
The best chance of the half, though, did come to Surman – through on goal with just Bonham to beat – but the former Bournemouth man well overhit his effort and sent it into the empty temporary stand.
And the Dons were made to pay for that miss, Connor Ogilvie later sending an unstoppable effort from a long throw past Fisher to give his side the lead once again. 2-3.
Despite a triple change, plus a further two, MK were able to muster nothing – bar a last-minute seemingly unstoppable effort from O’Riley, only to be equally matched with an excellent save by Bonham and tipped over. FT 2-3.
Disappointing and, quite frankly, once again one to forget. Not good enough.
I’m sure this is only a temporary blip, and I have full faith we’ll get back to winning ways over the coming weeks. Just a handful of points needed before we hit that magic 50 mark.
You Dons!
