Dack does the damage to Dons at the death as Gills snatch late victory

It was late heartbreak for MK Dons on Saturday as Bradley Dack netted a stoppage time winner for Gillingham to secure a 1-0 win at Priestfield.

An unhappy stomping ground for Dons down the years, the sides looked on course for a 0-0 draw until substitute Dack tapped in in the fifth minute of time added on at the end to resign Dons to a fourth straight defeat.

As the hunt for a new manager rumbles on in the background at Stadium MK, attention turned to Priestfield for the game with Gillingham. Interim boss Ben Gladwin rolled the dice with a change in goal, opting for Craig MacGillivray to make his sixth appearance of the season in favour of Connal Trueman. Dan Crowley suffered an injury in the run up to the game and missed out, meaning Callum Hendry started upfront.

There was also a change in goal for the hosts as Gareth Ainsworth handed a first professional start to Taite Holtam. But for the first 45 minutes, neither keeper were given any major concerns.

Looking every bit a game between 17th and 19th in League Two, the middle third of the pitch was where the vast majority of the game was played, with both sides throwing in some crunching challenges, with stoppages to play the major element of the first-half.

MacGillivray, making his first appearance since January was only really given a Sam Gale shot to have to contend with, while Holtam did pick the ball out of his net but Scott Hogan had strayed offside when getting on the end of Alex Gilbey’s neat pass.

The second-half played out much in the same way as the first, with both sides embroiled in a midfield scrap which ultimately led to a scrappy, tight-knit affair. But really, neither deserved the full compliment of points.

Dons had a couple of half-chances when Hendry got in behind only to pull the ball behind Hogan, while Tommi O’Reilly too dragged a shot wide.

At the other end, substitute Joe Gbode had a good tussle with Jack Sanders but could not get anything cleaner than a bobbling effort through to MacGillivray, while fellow change Bradley Dack saw a looping header clip the top of the bar on it’s way over.

With the game destined for 0-0, Armani Little trailed a leg to win a 95th minute free-kick from Liam Kelly on the corner of the box, and Conor Masterson nodded back across goal for Dack to tap in from a yard out to snatch victory for Gillingham.

Referee:

Attendance: 6,080 (208)

Gillingham: Holton, Hutton (Clarke 83), Gale, Masterson, Ogie, Clark, Little, McKenzie, Williams (Gbode 45 (Hawkins 83)), Rowe (Dack 61), Nevitt

Subs not used: Nolan, Agbinone, Morgan

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Maguire, Offord, Sanders, Tomlinson, O’Reilly, Thompson-Sommers (Kelly 85), Lemonheigh-Evans, Gilbey (Orsi 85), Hogan, Hendry (White 67)

Subs not used: Trueman, Leko, Nemane, Waller

Booked: Offord, Sanders, Gbode, Lemonheigh-Evans, Gilbey, Thompson-Sommers