From hopeless to hopeful: Dons look a threat from corners at last

Once upon a time, MK Dons fans would look away despondently before a corner was pitched into the penalty area. Now though, those set-pieces are a viable source of goals.

Harry Darling’s equaliser against Wigan on Saturday was his eighth goal of the season - all of them coming from his presence in the penalty area as a result of set-pieces.

Not just Darling, Peter Kioso too picked up goals from corners, also scoring an equaliser against Wigan in the reverse fixture in October, a couple of weeks after doing the same against Doncaster Rovers.

Dons’ seeming inability to score from corners is one which has been passed down from manager-to-manager, with Karl Robinson even reacting angrily to questions about his side’s distinct lack of threat from them.

With corners becoming a more regular source of goals, or at least threat for Dons, Manning paid tribute to his assistant Chris Hogg for his work on making Dons a more significant force when they send their defenders forwards.

“It’s a credit to Chris Hogg who has worked so hard on the set pieces,” said Manning. “We don't just sling it in there for him to head it. There's a lot more to it than that. We've now started to execute it and we're looking really dangerous.

“The percentage of first contacts we've had from them have been high but the number of goals haven't been.

“It's not as easy as just slinging it into the box and hoping, there's a lot more detail and discipline to it. And that's another sign of progress.”

Darling also praised goalkeeping coach Lewis Price, as well as Hogg, for their work on set-pieces and helping him become more of a goal-scoring threat.

The defender said: “Hoggy has been brilliant with that. Before every game, we do attacking and defending set-pieces with Lewis Price. We are covering so many areas.

“Attacking set pieces are a huge part of the game, they'll never go out of the game so if we can score more from them, it will only help us win games.”