More Of The Same

With the fear that none of those out injured would be returning tonight confirmed before the start, I’m sure every Addick was fearing the worse after Saturday’s drubbing. As far as objectives were concerned, of course we wanted the run of defeats to be brought to an end; equally we wanted to see evidence that the players were prepared to put everything on the line to that end, and not in the ill-disciplined fashion which saw Clare get sent off (and Inniss nearly follow him). We got neither points nor a battling backs to the wall display, although there was no shortage of effort.

What we did receive was a dispiriting reminder that not being able to keep a clean sheet and not being able to score goals is not exactly a good combination in football. We may have been ‘in the game’ for the first half an hour, but you don’t get points for that; and even during that time there was the realisation that we were just one slip away from defeat. We knew it, MK Dons knew it, and there seemed to be nobody on the pitch or from the bench capable of avoiding the inevitable. The final 20 minutes or so were hard to watch and at the end we were looking very sorry for ourselves, another forward seemingly lost to injury, Jaiyesimi pressed into centre-forward duties, and the admirable Dobson looking absolutely spent, mentally and physically, when withdrawn with a few minutes left. At home, 31% possession, no shots on target.

The team showed five changes from Saturday. With Clare unavailable and Inniss as predicted not able to play a second game in a few days, and Purrington dropped to the bench, it was all-change at centre-back, with Gunter, Lavelle and Famewo coming in. The wing-backs would be Matthews on the right and loanee Castillo coming in on the left for his first start. Lee was given a rest in midfield, the triumvirate being Dobson, Gilbey and Morgan, while it looked like a reversion to two up front in Leko and Burstow. On the bench would be Pearce and Purrington as defensive cover, Lee, Jaiyesimi and Campbell the midfield replacements, and Kanu returning to the squad to provide an option up front.

For the first 30 minutes MK Dons were sluggish and predictable, seemingly causing us no problems. Except that just once they almost scored out of nothing. An innocuous long ball forward and suddenly their guy had slipped in behind our back line, beaten the offside trap, and was in on goal. Fortunately he couldn’t bring the ball down easily and MacGillivray was out to smother. Just far too easy. We didn’t exactly set the world on fire, but did create some decent situations, including an excellent Leko turn to play in Matthews, whose low cross flashed across the face of goal, having taken a slight deflection, while Gilbey almost got on the end of another cross. Another cross ended with a Castillo shot deflected over, and probably our best chance came from a mistake as their defender allowed a pass out from their keeper to run under his foot. Burstow looked to slot the ball into an empty net, but the defender got back in time to block the effort.

Then MK Dons scored. Possibly as in other games against the run of play, but we’ve seen it all before too often. Ball played out to their right, then back across to a guy able to prod it into space behind Matthews for their wing-back to collect, cut inside and slot it past MacGillivray. The defending was passive in allowing the time and space for the move to develop, then a static back line was exposed by a well-timed run and good pass. Another goal which was all too easy for the opposition to score.

Nothing was changed at the break and early in the second half we very nearly went further behind. A ball was driven across our box and from the resulting corner a free header was goal-bound before Gilbey managed to deflect it over the bar. Then we had what was to prove our only real opportunity of the second half. A corner was cleared but Gunter drove the ball back out to Morgan on the right and his hard cross found Burstow in space at the far post. It wasn’t an easy take but he rather scuffed the shot and the opportunity was lost.

Instead on the hour the game was effectively over. Lavelle brought the ball out of defence but overran it and lost possession. MK Dons moved it forward quickly and it was knocked back to a guy inside the area. His low shot was very well saved by MacGillivray, but he could only block it and the rebound was converted by their other wing-back.

All that was left was for MK Dons to play out the game, which they did with ease. DJ came on for Leko to play up front and not long after Burstow was down and had to be replaced, by Lee. Now Lee did cause them a problem or two with good runs and clever touches. But it was all far too late.

MK Dons will feel it was a routine victory against much depleted opposition. We were left to rue the goals conceded, the inability of our midfield to really create good opportunities, and the unequal struggle against their defence. And to accept that unless some get back from injury soon there is very little that can be done to change things. The best news of the night was that Morcombe had lost, keeping the gap to the last relegation place at nine points. It really has come to that.