Barrow pile more misery on Dons as they suffer defeat again

It was another miserable night for MK Dons as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat to Barrow on Tuesday night.

Suffering their ninth defeat in 13 games, Dons had the lead after eight minutes when Scott Hogan put them ahead only for the lead to be snatched back within two minutes when Kian Spence’s fine volley found home.

Dons looked in control at the break, but a renewed Barrow emerged in the second-half and an unmarked Kyle Cameron was afforded time and space to tap in Ben Whitfield’s cross on the hour to put the home side ahead.

Alex Gilbey headed against the post and then missed the rebound, but Dons barely threatened as they dropped to 15th in League Two.

Despite their 1-0 defeat to Bromley on Saturday, MK Dons stuck with the same side for their trip to Barrow, as Callum Hendry and Scott Hogan leading the line.

And it took Hogan just eight minutes to unlock the Barrow defence to open the scoring. Latching onto Dan Crowley's defence splitting ball, the striker rounded keeper Paul Farman to give Dons the lead.

But it would last barely two minutes as Barrow hit back immediately when Kian Spence's well-timed volley went through a crowd of players to pick out the bottom corner of Connal Trueman's net.

Dons' resolve after the equaliser will have pleased head coach Lindsey as they sought to restore their lead in almost identical fashion to the way they first took it, Crowley splitting the defence to find Hogan's run, this time on the left, only to be denied by Farman's outstretched hand.

Callum Hendry nearly did the same too, but he was just beaten to it by Farman, while at the other end, Aaron Pressley headed harmlessly over, while Spence nearly had a second goal in spectacular fashion from 25 yards, whistling just past the post.

Half-time came at the wrong time for Dons as they looked the more likely to snatch a goal before the break, but the roles were reversed at the start of the second-half. Barrow hemmed Dons in for much of the opening spell fer the restart, and got their rewards when the dangerous Whitfield found space down the left flank, and put in a simple ball across the face of goal for Kyle Cameron to tap the hosts in front on the hour.

Just as in the first-half, the change to draw level came within minutes of the go-ahead goal, only this time Dons could not capitalise. Crowley's excellent cross was met by Gilbey who saw his effort come back off the post. But with Farman stranded, Gilbey dived in front of Hogan, who looked set to tap in, with the skipper heading wide of the open goal.

And that about summed up Dons' second-half performance. There was a lot of huff and puff without really testing Farman. Passes were overhit, touches were amiss and Dons simply could not find a way back into the game

Referee: Simon Mather

Attendance: 2,783 (136)

Barrow: Farman, Cameron, Canavan, Spence, Newby, Williams, Gotts, Foley, Jackson, Pressley (Acquah 73), Whitfield (Smith 87)

Subs not used: Stanway, Tiensia, Worrall, Mahoney

MK Dons: Trueman, Sanders, Lawrence, Tomlinson, Lemonheigh-Evans (Patterson 78), Williams (O'Reilly 78), Kelly, Crowley, Gilbey, Hogan, Hendry (Orsi 64)

Subs not used: Stacey, Waller, Nemane, Thompson-Sommers

Booked: Lemonheigh-Evans, Foley, Hendry