On the last day of January, MK Dons seemingly hit their lowest point of the season, as they fell to a 3-1 defeat away at fellow relegation strugglers Bolton Wanderers. The defeat against the league’s then bottom side left them in 20th place, just two places and two points above relegation.
This poor form, however, seemed to have turned around at the start of the month as the Dons picked up five points from their first three games, all against sides in the Championship’s top ten. Following the 1-0 win away at Derby County, though, MK were brought crashing back down to earth. They fell to defeat at home to Bristol City, had a win snatched from them against 10-man Huddersfield, and were denied a point by a late Jordi Gomez free kick against Blackburn. Karl Robinson’s side now sit 21st in the league, just one place and three points above relegation.
Cardiff City 0-0 MK Dons — 6th February 2016
The strugglers held in-form Cardiff City to a stalemate at the Cardiff City Stadium, and many of the plaudits had to go to MK’s goalkeeper, David Martin. The Englishman twice denied Stuart O’Keefe, keeping out his header and his second half strike, as well as brilliantly tipping over an effort from Scott Malone.
The Dons had chances to score too. Former Cardiff player Nicky Maynard had an excellent chance late on, but he shot over. Earlier on in the match, a blocked shot from Josh Murphy fell for Darren Potter but he shot wide and Jake Forster-Caskey made David Marshall stretch to palm away his stinging effort.
It’s been a feature of the team this year to grind out draws away from home, having also drawn 0-0 at Reading and Wolves and 1-1 at Bristol City and Leeds. This largely goes down to the outstanding performances of David Martin and the introduction of Joe Walsh at centre-back, who, since coming in for Antony Kay, has become a favourite amongst the fans.
Another more recent factor to this would be the recall of George Baldock from his loan at Oxford United. He has started every game since his return and shown MK Dons and Karl Robinson what they were missing with some excellent performances.
MK Dons 1-1 Middlesbrough — 9th February 2016
Even Middlesbrough fans would have to admit after this game that they didn’t deserve the point. The away side were booed off at half time by their travelling fans as they trailed 1-0 and hadn’t performed well. Dean Bowditch gave the Dons a shock lead after nine minutes when his scuffed shot slipped through Dimi Konstantopoulos’ hands and into the corner. After that, much of the game was played in midfield as MK didn’t want to risk losing their precious lead and Middlesbrough struggled to get forward.
In the second half, Boro did improve and in the dying minutes they got their goal when Jordan Rhodes looped a header over David Martin to get his first goal for his new club. The result did mean that the Dons moved up a place to 20th, but it didn’t mask the disappointment of having a win snatched away in the 93rd minute against one of the promotion challengers.
Derby County 0-1 MK Dons — 13th February 2016
A late free-kick from Brighton loanee Jake Forster-Caskey gave Karl Robinson’s side just their second away win of the season. It was one of those typical away performances from the Dons, where they break down a lot of the play in midfield, defend reasonably well and have David Martin to make a few great saves here and there. Only this time, there was the added piece of magic that has been missing from so many of their matches this season.
Jacob Butterfield’s foul on Rob Hall resulted in a free kick which looked inviting distance-wise, but the angle looked a bit tight to try to shoot. Nobody told Forster-Caskey that, though, as he bent a beautiful shot up and over the wall that Scott Carson in the Derby goal could only palm into the roof of the net.
Not many travelling fans would have gone to the game expecting a win, and it seems even Karl Robinson wasn’t expecting it. “That’s one of the best results in the club’s history, away from home. We were the underdogs today, I don’t think anyone would have come here and said we would win.” For the first time since the opening day of the season, Dons fans could travel home from an away game celebrating with three points.
MK Dons 0-2 Bristol City — 20th February 2016
Having beaten one of the promotion contenders away from home in their last game, it wouldn’t have been silly to think that MK Dons should really be beating one of their fellow relegation candidates at home. As it turned out though, Bristol City proved that wrong. They were the better team from start to finish and fully deserved the three points.
MK Dons failed to register a single shot on target throughout the 90 minutes, further highlighting their striking problems. The Dons are the lowest scorers in the Championship this season and even with the loan signing of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and the permanent signing of Alex Revell, that doesn’t seem to be changing.
It was poor defending that let the home side down once again. Kyle McFadzean’s awful back pass meant David Martin had to rush to kick it, and his kick was completely miscued. Lee Tomlin picked up the ball from the error and crossed for Jonathan Kodjia to finish and give Bristol the lead in first half stoppage time. MK were booed off at half time, and it was later said on a local radio station that they felt it was the first time this season the booing was justified.
Kodjia added a second after half time, finishing well from a Joe Bryan through ball after being given far too much space. It was a day to forget for the Dons, who fell below their opponents in the table with this loss.
MK Dons 1-1 Huddersfield Town — 23rd February 2016
Another home game against a team nearby in the table should have resulted in another three points, but they were denied late on against a resilient Huddersfield side. Following their poor performance against Bristol City, MK Dons were much improved and dominated the first half, playing some excellent football like times of the past.
Alex Revell notched his first goal for his new club when he headed home Johnny Williams’ cross, and when Huddersfield substitute Phillip Billing was sent off early in the first half, it seemed it would be three points safely in the bag. One thing that this team needs to learn though that you cannot assume that against any Championship side, as they will always have enough quality to get a goal when they need it.
Huddersfield came back into the game in the second half and pushed the Dons further back, resulting in Nahki Wells lifting the ball over stand-in goalkeeper Cody Cropper after Mark Hudson had flicked on Tommy Smith’s long ball. It was another disappointing result for the Dons, especially considering they were playing against ten men for almost half of the match. That result left them teetering over the relegation zone by six points and just one place.
Blackburn Rovers 3-2 MK Dons — 27 February 2016
It was absolute heartbreak for the Dons in their away trip to Blackburn, as a 93rd minute free-kick from Jordi Gomez denied them a point at Ewood Park. Samir Carruthers scored his first goal of the season to give the away side the lead after 36 minutes, but Gomez nodded in after MK had twice cleared off the line. Blackburn then went in front when Elliot Bennet volleyed in, but Alex Revell flicked in his second goal in as many games to seemingly rescue a point. It wasn’t to be though, as Jordi Gomez curled home an exquisite free-kick to hand Blackburn the three points.
At the end of the game against Blackburn, MK Dons sit just one place and three points above the relegation zone following Rotherham’s win against Brentford. With only 12 games now remaining, the wins need to start coming, and the Dons are lucky to have a slightly easier run-in than the teams around them.
This month is a particularly important one as this Saturday is the visit of QPR, which is definitely a winnable game considering QPR’s underachievement this season. Then on Tuesday 8th is a trip to bottom side Charlton Athletic, where three points is a must against a team with a goal difference of -35. The following Saturday is another away trip, this time to second-placed Hull where realistically the best to be hoped for is a draw. The final game of the month is the visit of this year’s surprise package Brighton. They have become a fairly inconsistent side of late, so there’s definitely the chance to cause an upset in that one.
Karl Robinson needs to start doing whatever it will take to get wins in these game, otherwise this could come down to the wire.
