Dismal Dons thumped at the hands of Ipswich Town

Liam Manning’s one year anniversary in charge of MK Dons ended with the heaviest defeat of his tenure back on his old stomping ground as Ipswich Town cruised to a 3-0 win at Portman Road.

Trailing after just five minutes to a Wes Burn strike, Dons looked out-of-sorts all afternoon, unable to get any sort of foothold in the game. With Conor Grant and Matt Dennis missing decent chances, Marcus Harness’ goal just before the half-hour mark put the writing on the wall.

Changing shape did little to change their fortunes in the second half, and when Conor Chaplin slotted home Town’s third on the hour mark, it ensured Dons’ joint-biggest defeat in Manning’s tenure.

After making seven changes to his side for the Carabao Cup win over Sutton United on Tuesday, Liam Manning made five changes to the team to revert back to a more recognised starting XI against Ipswich. Dean Lewington, Daniel Oyegoke, Matt Smith, Bradley Johnson and Louie Barry all came back into the side, while Matt Dennis made his first league start for the club in the absence of Will Grigg.

After a promising second half against Sheffield Wednesday last week, Dons turned in their worst 45 minutes for a long time and gave themselves a mountain to climb at Portman Road. Starting brightly, the hosts immediately capitalised on the pace advantge of Janoi Donacien over Lewington, and his ball back to the edge of the box to Wes Burns was expertly bent into the side of the net to give Ipswich a fifth minute lead.

The goal kicked Dons into life though, and Conor Grant fired over from close range before Matt Dennis squandered their best chance of the half, heading Grant's cross over the bar when he really should have done better.

Having prided themselves on their passing game for the last few seasons, it fell apart at the seams at Portman Road, with Daniel Oyegoke, Bradley Johnson and Dean Lewington all gifting possession back to the home side, making their lives an awful lot easier.

With the temperatures soaring to 32 degrees in Suffolk, the water break midway through the half stunted Dons' momentum they were beginning to build, and just five minutes after the restart, Ipswich had doubled their lead. A poor ball from Johnson was picked off and after Conor Chaplin took aim from the edge of the box, Jamie Cumming could only palm the ball into the path of Marcus Harness to prod it over the line on 28 minutes.

Dumbstruck and lost for ideas seemingly thereafter, Dons continued to conspire against themselves as Louie Barry strayed offside when slid in by Matt Smith after a promising three-on-one opportunity went begging.

Much has been made of Dons' switch to a back four this season, and after the dismal first half, Manning brought on Henry Lawrence at the interval to revert his side to their more recognised back three but it did little to change the course of the game as Ipswich looked for a third to kill the game well and truly. And they only had to wait 15 second-half minutes to get it.

Donacien again was at the heart of it, cutting back past two challenges before neatly offloading to the excellent Chaplin to convert from seven yards and put the game to bed.

Despite Town boss Kieran McKenna changing his whole frontline to get them out of the heat, and the game reduced to almost walking pace at times, Ipswich still came close to adding a fourth when another poor pass, this time from Tucker allowed substitute Sone Aluko to burst through only to be denied by Cumming at the near post.

Referee: Carl Brook

Attendance: 23,045 (532)

Ipswich Town: Walton, Donacien, Woolfenden, Edmundson, Burns (Edwards 70) , Evans, Morsy, Davis (Leigh 80), Chaplin (Aluko 70), Harness (John-Jules 70), Ladapo (Jackson 70)

Subs not used: Hladky, Burgess, Jackson

MK Dons: Cumming, Lewington, Tucker, O'Hora, Oyegoke (Jules 67), Robson, Johnson, Smith, Grant (Lawrence 46), Barry (Kemp 67), Dennis (Burns 86)

Subs not used: Ravizzoli, Ilunga, Devoy

Booked: Robson