A fair point but Manning has frustrations after draw with Wigan

Picking up a point late in the day was what MK Dons deserved, according to head coach Liam Manning, after the 1-1 draw with fellow promotion candidates Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

After a bitty and physical opening period brought about precious little for either side to write home about, the game came to life when Tom Naylor was in the right place at the right time to convert Tom Pearce’s deflected shot past Jamie Cumming to put Wigan ahead on 58 minutes.

Dons though, looking to extend their undefeated run and keep up the pressure on both Wigan and Rotherham ahead of them in the table, drew level with three minutes to go when Harry Darling headed home his eighth goal of the season for a share of the spoils.

“Overall I'm pleased with a point,” said Manning afterwards. “I'm frustrated with numerous aspects. The referee's performance made it very stop-start, the inconsistency from the first to the second half and it made it harder to build any momentum from that sense.

“A point is probably fair given the chances created.”

Though the game struggled to live up to the billing that third vs second had the potential to be, but Manning said both sides set up to be difficult to break down and it reflected in the way the game played out.

“There was some edginess in the first half,” he continued. “When you come here expecting to see a free-flowing game with lots of attacks and chances, but the foundations for both have to be that you're hard to beat.

“Wigan had a game plan to come here and stop us playing and when you’ve got a team as experienced and physical and well set-up as they are, it made things difficult. They came here well structured, well drilled and difficult to break down.

“We looked better at the start of the second half, I was pleased with the first six or seven minutes. We went though them, we moved the ball quicker and made some tweaks but the momentum shifted and we got a bit sloppy and allowed them to play off our mistakes.”