Derby day fans would have changed the game

An empty Stadium MK took the buzz and excitement out of an ordinarily feisty game between MK Dons and AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.

Joe Pigott opened the scoring after 10 minutes before Scott Fraser equalised within three minutes to restore parity in the 1-1 draw. But without a tension in the crowd from both sets of supporters, the game quickly fell flat.

"It changed the game," admitted Russell Martin. "In the last half an hour, the fans behind the goal would have completely changed their mentality and created anxiety in them. We're missing that at the moment, especially when we're searching for a winner."

Captain Dean Lewington added: "The fans between the clubs obviously have this rivalry, but in terms of the players, I don;t know if many of them were even alive when the split happened. It's not their battle and they weren't really involved. So without the fans, it just becomes two teams playing.

"It was a competitive game and was played in a good spirit. But it lacked that little bit of bite that you'd get between us normally."