Rooted to the bottom of the table, MK Dons arrived at the Valley in poor form to face a Charlton side with a bit of momentum after three straight wins. Ben Garner made a couple of changes to the side, resting Sessignon for Clare on the left, and moving Rak-Saki in behind or next to Stockley. The change proved troublesome to say the least, as we pushed down the left time and time again, but Clare’s lack of a left foot constantly stymied us. MKD were content to leave us possession and counter, which led to three chances in the first half that they should have done much better with. We went into the break even.
The second half saw a bit more drama than the first. Ryan Innis, already on a yellow card, was adjudged to have brought down their striker and MKD were given a penalty. Innis was sent off. Was it a foul, or was Innis merely stronger? Was it in the box? A good case can be made that the foul was outside the box. Nonetheless, MKD dispatched the penalty to take the lead and finish out the match against ten men.
A few changes were made, with Sessignon and Aneke coming on. We looked a little better and attacked with more impetus, but it was never going to be enough.
To compound matters, MKD scored from a well taken free kick to kill the game and take all three points.
Truth be told, with the lion’s share of possession, we barely troubled their keeper. I fear that, rather than a lack of confidence, we approach matches as though we’re better than we actually are. I don’t think we could afford to rest Sessignon, to effectively play a weaker partnership down the left, as we needed a good start to put pressure on MKD and compound their insecurities. We didn’t do that, perhaps because we’re too clever by half.
Charlton 0 MK Dons 2
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Comments
We then play today without one and look awful, i'm sure it's not a coincidence.
Goodnight
Let's all blame the ref
Bla bla bla.
I fucking hate supporting us at times
Spotted HMS piss the league....
Done by a penalty that wasn't a penalty (outside the area) and a Bradley Johnson free kick.
If anyone deserved to win the game, it was them, so no massive complaints. Just one of those games.
Confident we'll be better on Saturday against Ipswich.
I really like Innis but he had a shocker tonight before being sent off. Not many positives tonight other than Fraser is a bloody good player.
Inniss... Now THAT is a liability on a yellow card...
How can you be sent off four times, in less games than what make up a season?
Thought the Inniss thing was outside the box.
Kirk up front did not work at all and probably only Fraser comes out with any credit for any significant forward thinking...some decent balls through and up to Rak-Sak.
Sessegnon has had his rest now and should keep Clare consigned to the bench for the foreseeable.
Beyond that it was just another showcase of the limitations of our squad unfortunately. As on so many other occasions this season, playing with Stockley up front is like playing with 10 men. He’s a bang average league one player regardless of the system he’s playing in.
There is a clear theme emerging of our season. Teams that come to The Valley to play football will get beaten, every single other team we will lack the quality to break down. Unfortunately I can’t see that changing with our transfer window prospects in January.
Time to get over it now and get behind them on Saturday because they’re going to need it.
We lost because we only had 1 shot on target against the team bottom of the table.
MK deserved it and Dean Lewington is an amazing player for a 38 year old .