Derby’s equaliser before half-time ‘killed us’ says Lawrence

Conceding barely two minutes after taking the lead was MK Dons’ downfall in the 3-1 defeat to Derby County, according to defender Henry Lawrence.

The Chelsea loanee felt Hayden Roberts’ header, coming mere moments after Louie Barry’s brilliant solo goal gave Dons the lead, to make it 1-1 going in at half-time shifted momentum in favour of the visitors, who capitalised quickly in the second half to go 2-1 up not long after the restart.

Derby could have had few complaints though had they gone in as many as three goals behind at the break, with Will Grigg and Bradley Johnson having glorious opportunities to open the scoring, only to be denied by some fine keeping from Joe Wildsmith.

Roberts’ equaliser though shifted things.

“In the first half, we were all over them and should have killed them off,” said Lawrence afterwards. “But we gave away that sloppy set-piece just before half time and it killed us.

“It gave them the momentum they needed. If we came in 1-0 up at half-time, we'd have momentum, we'd be on top and we could kill them off in the second half. But that goal before half-time really hurt us.”

While the performance was a significant step forward compared to where they were a few weeks ago, the defeat ended Dons’ run of four games without a defeat and kept them in the bottom four.

Lawrence continued: “The result is what we all look at, but we were really good in the first half, so it's a positive we can take away. But we want wins on board to turn things around.

“It's frustrating because you can see the performances are there. It's the results we need now. But a month ago, neither were there.”