Dons boss satisfied with a point after Parrott’s moment of quality

He stopped short of describing it as ‘van Basten-esque’ but Liam Manning was delighted to see Troy Parrott’s sensational volley fly in to rescue a point for MK Dons against AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.

The 20-year-old’s wonderful right-footed volley from the corner of the six yard box flew past Nik Tzanev with 10 minutes to go to cancel out Alex Woodyard’s 20th minute opener at the Cherry Red Records Stadium to share the spoils and keep them in the automatic promotion spots.

Reminiscent of Dutch striker Marco van Basten’s brilliant volley in the final of the 1988 European Championship against the Soviet Union, Manning admitted he had not seen a replay back of the goal but said it was the defining moment for his side.

“I haven't seen it back yet but all I know is that it was a moment of quality.” he said. He had good control of it, but I cannot compare it to van Basten yet!

“It was great technique, a terrific finish. I felt we deserved to get something from the game, so it was nice to score in that manner and extend the run.”

That run now reads 15 undefeated for MK Dons, and 12 without defeat on the road too a new club record. Both of those looked set to tumble though after a dismal first half showing from the side from MK1, who were overrun by rampant home side looking to end their 22 game streak without win.

With emotions running high, Woodyard’s opener gave the home side something to cling onto, which they very nearly did.

Manning continued: “The perception is that the game will be easy but that's never the case. We didn't take it lightly today. The tense atmosphere is a first for some of these players, and in the first half we played into their style. We made it bitty and didn't control it. I think it was about 22 minutes before we had our first meaningful possession.

“There was a lot of emotion and we lacked a bit of discipline in the first half and we spoke about that at half time.

“The second half summed up the lads - the character, spirit, togetherness, never say die attitude which has done us so well this season and that's why we ended up taking a point.

“Going 1-0 down gave them something to hold on for and gave them a lift. At 0-0, we could have built momentum, but from a goal behind and chasing like we were, we score and can come away looking at the bigger picture.”