A clean sheet for Dons’ defence at long last

Aden Baldwin and Warren O’Hora celebrate Dons’ win over Burton, and keeping the first clean sheet since late September

MK Dons’ first clean sheet in nearly two months was a welcome relief for Liam Manning after their 1-0 win over Burton Albion on Saturday.

Without suspended Harry Darling, Dons’ defence restricted Burton to just five efforts all afternoon, and not one of them tested Andrew Fisher.

For Manning, the clean sheet was just as pleasing as the victory having had to wait since their 1-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers on September 25 for their last shut-out.

“We’ve not had enough clean sheets this season,” he said. “They had some set-pieces but we dealt with them really well, which is obviously a big part of winning matches.

“I felt quite comfortable at times as well. We stood up, dealt with Burton well.”

In Darling’s absence, Aden Baldwin was handed his second league start of the season having also played all 120 minutes against Stevenage in midweek.

On his performance, Manning added: “Aden came in, he has been really patient recently. I’m sure he’d like to have played more, but when you get the opportunity, you have to step in and take it and I thought, collectively, the back three did well today.”