THE GAME
Steve Evans made four changes for this match, as Joel Senior, Taylor Moore, Clinton Mola and Ellis Harrison came into the side at the expense of Alfie Kilgour, Luke Thomas, Isaac Hutchinson and Kane Thompson-Sommers , who was not able to play against his parent club.
In the absence of Kilgour and Tom Lockyer there was a new captain as Harrison took the armband.
Evans saw his side slip to a third consecutive 1-0 defeat, but his side did perform a lot better than in their previous outing, against Salford City. The lack of firepower, though, remains a concern.
After a fairly even opening to the game Rovers fashioned a goalscoring opportunity on 11 minutes after Shaq Forde played in Fabrizio Cavegn down the left. However, his rather weal shot was comfortably saved by goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray.
Taylor Moore saw two efforts blocked in another Rovers attack and Ellis Harrison rolled a shot well wide of the target. However, there was a let off for Rovers when a rasping drive from Luke Offord struck the crossbar, bounced down on the line and away to safety.
The home side thought they had won a penalty on 39 minutes when former Gas striker Aaron Collins went down under a challenge, but referee Craig Hicks was having none of it and allowed play to continue.
Collins saw a shot blocked by Riley Harbottle as the game moved into time added on. Then came a moment of controversy as Callum Paterson appeared to elbow Joel Senior in the face as the defender challenged him. The MK Dons striker had already been booked and this challenge merited another yellow car, possibly a red. Mr Hicks, though, bottled it and didn’t even award a free kick, restarting the game with a dropped ball to the home side!
Jon Mellish headed against the post in another MK Dons attack before, in the seventh minute of the six added on (!) the player who shouldn’t have still been on the pitch, Paterson, bundled in a low cross from Collins to score what proved to be the game’s only goal.
The second half began with. Home attack that saw Brad Young save from Alex Gilbey while Collins dragged a shot wide of the upright.
Substitute Mees Rijks, sent on for his Rovers league debut on 62 minutes, spurned a good opportunity to draw his side level shortly after entering the fray but, when well placed, curled a shot over the bar.
His fellow substitute, Yusuf Akhamrich, who looked lively down the right hand side, saw a shot blocked, as did Ryan de Havilland while Forde and Sparkes both headed over as Rovers searched for an equaliser.
Young made a fine save from Gethin Jones before the end of a feisty affair that saw Rovers, once again, fail to score and to pick up any points. With three home games coming up in quick succession, it’s vital that goals and points are secured in those games.
WHAT WAS SAID
Well, I think comfortably, we were the better side. I think it was more even in the first half. There was a key incident in the first half, when the goalscorer, who was on a yellow, smashed Joel. We’ve seen it on the video as well, so it’s clear and obvious. Just a straight red, never mind a second yellow.
‘In the second half we passed well, we opened them up. We made two or three good chances ourselves to get on the scoresheet. As highly critical as I was of the boys on Sunday and Monday, really critical after Salford. I can only praise them after tonight; their performance was very good.
‘Yusuf Akhamrich is five, six days into the football club. I worked really hard to get him, myself, Ricky and the ownership. We worked really hard because there was a queue as long as Milton Keynes itself. People have seen a flash of it tonight. He’s got a lot to bring to the party, and we’re delighted to have got him.’ Rovers Head Coach Steve Evans
‘Well, I obviously thought it was difficult to come here; they’re a good team. I thought we battled well; we had some good chances in the game. They’ve scored at a bit of a killer time, and I don’t think the lad should be on the pitch, but I thought we played well in spells. We had a reaction; we needed one from the past three games, and I thought we got one, which I thought was quite unlucky with our chances. It’s another defeat; we need to bounce back as quickly as possible.
It’s frustrating. It’s probably the worst time to concede, especially when we probably had better chances in the first half. Obviously, it was a scrappy game; that’s what we need to make it. Coming here, it’s always going to be a tough place to come, so obviously, conceding on half time is not ideal at all, but I thought we reacted in the second half, especially towards the end of the game, we reacted well again. We were unlucky to come away with a defeat.
Obviously, the goal is frustrating, but I felt like we could come away with a lot of positives from today, especially coming here against a very good team. We need to repay our supporters; it’s only us on the pitch that can do that, and obviously, their support has been brilliant since I’ve been here. On Saturday, we didn’t perform anywhere good enough, and to repay them on the pitch, what we need to do is start winning games and give them something to shout about.’
“So, with the fans behind us, no doubt they’ll all be there again on Saturday and obviously the next three games,” he said. “We’ve all got to concentrate on each game as it comes, but we’ll be ready to fight and hopefully win a game.’ Rovers defender Joel Senior
‘He’s a contact centre forward so there will always be contact, but there looked a determination to get him sent off, which I don’t like. The whole Pato thing was a concern because he got booked early on. He backed into the player, and I’ve seen it back, there was no elbow to the head, none of what he was accused of. I was just worried that, second half, any contact with him and any histrionics by the opposition could land us in trouble. Weirdly, there was none of that in the second half.
‘I’m biased, I know, but if it was the other way around, I’d have said they should’ve had a penalty. Collo was the right side of the defender, waiting for it to drop, he got into a great position and felt the contact. I just can’t believe he’s gone to ground too easily. Centre forwards, if they’re through on goal and there’s contact, it’s a penalty, I don’t see the grey area with that. That was disappointing. Luckily for us, it hasn’t cost us.
‘We’ll play a lot better than that, but we have to respect the opposition. We needed a second goal, which would have allowed us to control the game better. It was constantly stopped by throws, free kicks, it just wasn’t a game for the purists. If we’re going to be successful, it doesn’t matter. We possibly need another ten wins to go up, and it won’t matter how those wins come. I won’t be on the beach in June thinking ‘I wish we played better against Bristol Rovers’. If you defend that many long throws and corners, we have to be a really good defensive unit not to concede and for that, the lads have to take a lot of credit.’ MK Dons boss Paul Warne
