MK Dons suffered their first defeat of the season as Jason Shackell thundered in a header in the fourth minute of stoppage time. The Dons weren’t much more impressive than their dismal showing against Forest Green last weekend but there was enough in the second-half performance to suggest that a point would have sufficed. The Imps, though, showed why they are top of the league and why they are the favourites for the League Two title.
MK Dons Defeated by Late Jason Shackell Goal
Growing into the Game
Lincoln started the game on the upper hand, forcing a nervy backline into conceding a succession of corners. Nothing came of them but it seemed only a matter of time before the accumulation of pressure would tell.
Once they had ridden a few waves of pressure, the visitors got the ball down and started to play some nice football. They had a couple of half chances through Chuks Aneke, but these were easily dealt with by Josh Vickers in the home goal. During this period of having the upper-hand, the Dons created the best chance of the half for either side. Ryan Watson received the ball on the edge of the area, but his curling effort was tipped aside by Vickers.
The second half started in the same vein as the first, perhaps with a slight lack of cutting edge from the hosts. This came back to bite them in the 65th minute. Rhys Healey had only been on the pitch for eight minutes when he powered his way through the Imps defence, and his shot through the legs of Vickers and into the bottom corner gave the visitors a lead that they really didn’t deserve.
You won’t see many games this season where Lincoln don’t score at home – it’s happened just once this season. As such, normal service was resumed soon after Healey’s opener as Shay McCartan rifled home a loose ball when the Dons failed to deal with a set-piece. It was no more than Lincoln deserved.
A draw seemed to be on the cards heading into the dying minutes and while this would have been disappointing for the home side, it would hardly have been a disaster against a team that many thought would be challenging them for the title. What all title-winning teams can do, though, is not give up. This is exactly what Lincoln did and they got their reward in the 94th minute when Jason Shackell’s bullet header found the far corner.
The Shape Needs to Change
Paul Tisdale has deployed his side in a 5-3-2 formation for the majority of this season. He changed this further in yesterday’s game, dropping one of the strikers back into midfield, making it a 5-4-1 and leaving Chuks Aneke as the lone striker. Though not a common line-up, it allowed him to play his previous captain at Exeter, Jordon Moore-Taylor, without displacing mainstays such as George Williams and Joe Walsh, as well as allowing Callum Brittain to play in a familiar defensive role with much more license to attack.
It does come with some negatives, though. There is no width to the team, as the two wide players’ main task is to defend. If they attack too much, the defence is left exposed to counter attacks. Therefore, most of the attacking is done by pumping long balls to the two strikers, bypassing the midfield completely. However, these means that the two strikers are constantly outnumbered by the opposing defence because it doesn’t allow enough time for the midfield to come and support.
Additionally, the midfield can often become outnumbered, especially when the opposition is on top and going forward regularly, which leaves potentially just a back three to deal with an onslaught if the wingbacks are not doing their defensive duties properly. It adds far too much unneeded pressure to the defence and can be rectified in a change of formation.
Better Game Management Needed
In each of the Dons’ last three league games, they have conceded either an equalising or losing goal in the last ten minutes. This also happened in their Checkatrade Trophy draw to Peterborough United in which Paul Tisdale’s side blew a three-goal lead.
This has cost the Dons valuable points and will particularly hurt in the games against Lincoln and Swindon, in which the goals game deep into stoppage time. The run of form has seen MK Dons drop into 14th in League Two. However, after the postponement of their fixture with Yeovil, they do have a game in hand and winning this could see them go back up to fifth.
MK Dons need to stop dropping points from winning or drawing positions, so game management will be something that Tisdale has to work on with his team if they are serious about contending for an automatic promotion spot. It is, however, still very early in the season and talking about poor runs of form or constant struggling this early on should not be done.
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