Dismal Dons rescue a point after trailing by two goals to Shrewsbury

Despite a dismal 50 minutes and trailing 2-0, MK Dons somehow salvaged 2-2 draw against Shrewsbury Town at Stadium MK on Tuesday night.

They could not have made a worse start, conceding inside 25 seconds when Shaun Whalley capitalised on Ste Walker's loose pass to convert past Andrew Fisher. As bad as Dons were in the first half - without question their worst 45 minutes of the season so far - they were lucky to go in only 1-0 down at the break. But it took just four second half minutes for Marc Pugh to double their advantage, and it looked to be game over for Dons.

But when Carlton Morris tapped in on 53 minutes to give Dons a lifeline, it kicked the home side into life and the comeback was complete when Cameron Jerome rolled in an equaliser with 20 minutes to play.

The result means Dons remain 17th in the standings.

Russell Martin made four changes to the side which started against Hull City at the weekend, with Dean Lewington, Jordan Houghton, David Kasumu and Ben Gladwin dropping to the bench in favour of Regan Poole, Baily Cargill, Andrew Surman and Lasse Sorensen.

The opening 15 minutes of the game though were nothing short of catastrophic for Dons. Early goals have been Dons' downfall this season, but when Shrewsbury opened the scoring after 30 seconds, it set the tone for the rest of the first half. Walker's pass back towards Andrew Surman was picked up on the halfway line by Shaun Whalley, who raced into the Dons half unimpeded before rifling past Andrew Fisher.

It should have been 2-0 inside 10 minutes when Baily Cargill was caught ball-watching and allowed Josh Vela to fizz one across the face of goal, only just kept out by Warren O'Hora at the far post.

The home side looked at sea and off the pace all over the pitch. Their passing was poor, control was lacking and they were lucky to go in at the break only a goal behind as twice more Shrewsbury had the ball in the net before the interval, saved by the offside flag.

In a bid to change things, Lasse Sorensen was sacrificed after just 32 minutes as he was replaced by David Kasumu to beef up the midfield somewhat.

At the other end, only a Scott Fraser effort tipped over the bar by keeper Dejan Iliev was worthy of note.

Dons were perhaps fortunate to be only a goal behind at the break, but it took just four minutes for things to get worse as Marc Pugh was left with a simple tap-in to make it 2-0 to the visitors.

Carlton Morris was brought on at the break but gave Dons a vital lifeline when he tapped in the rebound from Regan Poole's 53rd minute strike to get the home side back into it.

And remarkably they completed the turnaround with 20 minutes to go when Cameron Jerome raced onto the end of Kasumu's ball through, rolling neatly past Iliev to level things at 2-2.

From there, Dons looked the only side capable of winning it. Morris, Poole and Ben Gladwin all had decent efforts on goal, while Jerome felt Dons should have had a penalty for handball in the closing stages waved away as both sides had to settle for a point.

Referee: Darren Drysdale

MK Dons: Fisher, Keogh, Cargill, O'Hora, Poole, Sorinola (Harvie 83), Fraser, Surman (Gladwin 62), Sorensen (Kasumu 32), Walker (Morris 46), Jerome

Subs not used: Nicholls, Lewington, Houghton

Shrewsbury Town: Iliev, Pierre, Edwards (J Daniels 85), Williams, Whalley (Barnett 87), Vela, Millar, C Daniels, Walker, High, Pugh (Cummings 76)

Subs not used: Burgoyne, Zamburek, Udoh