League Two: MK Dons 0-0 Crawley Town

MK Dons missed the opportunity to gain points on those above them after being held to a goal-less draw at home to struggling Crawley Town.

Alex Gilbey and Scott Hogan had great opportunities to find the back of the net on a night when teams around them also dropped points.

The result though was enough to lift them into fourth spot, two points from the automatic promotion spots.

Before kick-off, the big news came from the MK Dons dressing room with both Callum Paterson and Aaron Collins missing through injuries suffered against Newport County. It meant a change in the formation for Paul Warne’s side, with Jay Matete coming into the midfield, while Rushian Hepburn-Murphy was handed his first start since January 4 as he led the line against his former club.

While there were plenty of overlapping story-lines between the two sides heading into the game, both had more pressing matters at hand in terms of their current league aspirations.

Crawley were expected to have more of the ball and they very much did in the opening exchanges, but did precious little to make an impression on Craig MacGillivray’s goal.

At the other end, Dons were missing their two leading man in the form of Paterson and Collins, and their cutting edge was certainly missing with two chances coming Dons’ way, and both should have been put away.

Ben Wiles perhaps over-thought his chance when he was put through by Hepburn-Murphy but instead opted to feed Jon Mellish, who also didn’t shoot and the chance went begging.

The best opportunity of the half though fell to skipper Alex Gilbey, who was left unmarked at the far post to reach Hepburn-Murphy’s cross, and headed straight at keeper Jacob Chapman.

A blot on the copybook though came shortly before half-time when Jay Matete was forced off with what looked like a hamstring injury, replaced by Dan Crowley.

The second-half followed a similar pattern for the most part, but it was Dons who looked the more capable of breaking the deadlock.

Mellish had a flash chance which he stuck over the bar, Hepburn-Murphy saw an effort blocked and Wiles again found keeper Chapman.

The best chance came late on when substitute Scott Hogan fired a pot-shot on the turn only to see it really well saved by the Crawley stopper.

At the other end, there were precious few opportunities for the struggling Reds to spring a surprise, but Ronan Darcy came closest when he forced MacGillivray to fly to his left to deny what would have been the winner.

Referee: Isaac Searle

Attendance: 7,036 (338)

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Offord, Ekpiteta, Nelson, Jones, Mellish (Tomlinson 82), Kelly (Lemonheigh-Evans 82), Matete (Crowley 36), Wiles, Gilbey, Hepburn-Murphy (Hogan 72)

Subs not used: Trueman, Nemane, Leko

Crawley Town: Chapman, Bajrami, Barker, Richards (Pereira 65), Ferizaj, Williams, Flint (Russell 80), Gordon (Forster 87), Lolos (A Ademayo 80), Darcy, Orsi

Subs not used: Odimayo, T Adeyemo

Booked: Bajrami, Williams, Lolos, Lindsey, Chapman