Scott Lindsey felt disappointed with the lack of attacking threat his MK Dons side offered as they slipped to their first League Two loss in a month.
They welcomed Port Vale to Buckinghamshire but could not find their mojo in front of goal. Darren Moore’s side claimed a late winner through Antwoine Hackford, putting them top of the League Two table with three thoroughly deserved points.
Vale peppered the home team’s net for much of the game, getting half of their shots on target and finally found the breakthrough 13 minutes before the end of normal time. By contrast, Milton Keynes only managed three shots directed at Connor Ripley’s goal.
Speaking to the MK Citizen following the result, former Crawley Town boss Lindsey felt his side were poor in attack. He said: “I am really frustrated with the fact that we have all the ball and don’t create any goalscoring opportunities.
“Once we went 1-0 down it then looked like we wanted to score, which is disappointing because we have done a lot of work on it. In the end we are changing our shape to get two forwards on the pitch to try and create something.
“I said at half-time that I could feel it was going to be a 1-0 game, and I said ‘don’t let it be them’, because we played so well in the first half without threatening.
“We know they would counter-attack and sit in and make it difficult for us to break them down, but we didn’t have any guile, we didn’t have any conviction, and didn’t have any real aggression to go and win the game.
“I was disappointed by the fact we never tested them, and certainly didn’t test the goalkeeper – I could have played in goal for Port Vale.”
The loss put an end to MK’ five-game unbeaten streak and marked the first time they had lost in league play since their visit to bitter rivals AFC Wimbledon this time last month. They have slid down to 15th place in the fourth tier, six points away from the play-off spots with nearly a quarter of the season played.
They travel north to Morecambe, who finally secured their first win of the season against Barrow yesterday. The Dons have won the last three encounters between the sides in Lancashire, but it was Derek Adams’ side that took the spoils in their last encounter at the start of the year.
Writer’s View
It was never going to be an instant switch in results when Scott Lindsey took over at MK Dons and Port Vale have been the most consistent side in the league so far. It wouldn’t have been a stretch to expect for more in the games against Tranmere Rovers and Bromley though so it has been somewhat disappointing. The most important thing is to find their footing under the new manager and they do feel like they are on track to do that but it may take some more time. The game against Morecambe is a prime opportunity to do that considering their track record on the road.
This Milton Keynes squad is probably one of the strongest sides in this league and surely will be up there at the top by the end of this season. Lindsey is the right man to lead them onwards and with the newfound resources at his disposal will be able to kick on should they go up next season. It wouldn’t be unfeasible to see them as a strong competitor in League One like they had under Karl Robinson, but the task now is to turn the results so far around and deliver consistently and with prowess, much in the same way they dispatched Harrogate Town.
