Dons shooting themselves in the foot by giving teams 'headstarts'

A frustrated Richard Keogh after Dons' defeat to Portsmouth

It took around 60 seconds for Portsmouth to take the lead on Saturday at Fratton Park, but early goals are not something MK Dons are surprised by at the moment.

Russell Martin's side have fallen behind inside the opening 15 minutes in five of their last six games, and in all but one of their eight fixtures so far, they have conceded first. As a former Premier League and international defender, that is not something the manager prides himself on.

Dons' woes see them sitting bottom of the League One table with two points from a possible 15 after yet another dominant yet ultimately fruitless performance at Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon. Taking away goals conceded in the opening 15 minutes of league games, Dons would be comfortably midtable, at least four points better off.

The goals they have conceded have not been especially well-worked either. Portsmouth's opener was a Tom Naylor header from a corner. Ipswich's goal at Stadium MK a week earlier came as Dons' defence got jelly-legs early on and allowed Jon Nolan a simple finish after a bit of a penalty area scramble. But they all count.

A win on Saturday, which many Portsmouth fans would not have begrudged Dons come the full-time whistle, would have seen Dons jump to a more comforting 17th spot, nestled between Charlton and Wigan, instead though, Martin was left to lament another poor start from his side.

"At some stage, it has to stop," he said. "We're limiting teams but they're scoring and hurting us. I expect us to dominate games, I expect to create chances and to score more goals, but if we don't defend our box, it means nothing. We gave them a goal headstart and it changes the mentality of the group. If you see us go 1-0 up, you'll see a different MK Dons.

"We haven't scored first yet, apart from at Stevenage (in the EFL Trophy last week). We're showing a lot of resilience to keep coming from behind and control and dominate a game. But we could make it so much easier for ourselves by scoring first, that's for sure. We have to give ourselves a chance to be in the game rather than chasing.

"We start games really well, and we've had chances before these teams score against us. Maybe it's us switching off at the other end, I don't know. We need to get a balance of implementing our game plan quickly but not letting other teams get a chance."