Dons held to a goal-less draw in lively draw with Cheltenham Town

Dons picked up an important point on the road on Saturday in a lively 0-0 draw with Cheltenham Town.

Bradley Johnson, Mo Eisa and Zak Jules all came close to netting what would have been a decisive goal for the visitors, while Jamie Cumming did brilliantly to deny James Olayinka’s deflected strike over just before half-time.

Following the important victory over Charlton on Tuesday night, the point and consecutive clean sheet didn’t move Dons anywhere in the League One table, remaining 21st with a two-week break before their next outing in the third tier.

Both sides ended losing streaks with victory in the week leading up to the game, so from Liam Manning's perspective, it was a case of sticking with the side which performed so well at The Valley against Charlton as Henry Lawrence kept his place in the side ahead of Dan Oyegoke, while Mo Eisa was named amongst the substitutes. For Dean Lewington, it was yet another landmark appearance, with his start being his 900 career outing.

In a lively opening half, both sides would have felt like they should have been the ones in front at the Completely-Suzuki Stadium. Dons twice tested keeper Luke Southwood in the opening five minutes as the visitors started brightly, with both of Tuesday's scorers Bradley Johnson and Will Grigg hitting the target.

While the visitors were playing the better football, Cheltenham's quick tempo and relentless press made life tough for the likes of Johnson and Josh McEachran in the Dons engine room to dictate the pace. When the latter did though, twice he was able to slide in Daniel Harvie on the left, but neither Grigg nor Louie Barry were able to reach them.

The Robins had some joy on their right-hand side, but it would be former Arsenal striker James Olayinka who would come closest when his strike from the edge of the box was deflected off Zak Jules, wrong-footing keeper Jamie Cumming, who did brilliantly to change direction to tip the strike over the bar.

The second-half would follow a similar pattern - both sides played at a frantic pace and didn't relent. For Cheltenham, pressure didn't amount to much to really give Cumming a headache, while Southwood at the other end needed to be on his toes to deny Johnson again from range on a couple of occasions, though he was somewhat fortunate when Dan Adshead defected a fierce volley over the bar after the keeper had committed himself.

Eisa, again coming off the bench, also had a great opportunity when he hit on the turn forcing Southwood into a one-handed stop, while fellow substitute Darragh Burns also had the keeper scrambling.

Zak Jules, thrown forwards for the latter stages, looped a header onto the cross bar in the last minute as Dons sought to make it two wins in a row, but they had to settle for consecutive clean sheets and a point on the road.

Referee: Darren Drysdale

Cheltenham Town: Southwood, Long, Williams, Freestone, Sercombe (Bonds 76), Taylor, Lloyd (Norton 70), Jackson, Perry (Adshead 75), Broom, Olayinka (Brown 71)

Subs not used: MacDonald, Bradbury, Raglan

MK Dons: Cumming, Lewington, O'Hora, Jules, Harvie, Lawrence, McEachran (Devoy 73), Johnson, Barry (Burns 65), Holland, Grigg (Eisa 65)

Subs not used: Ravizzoli, Tucker, Smith, Dennis

Booked: Johnson, Harvie, Sercombe, Jules