Goal-less draw with Swindon rounds out MK Dons' season

The curtain came down on MK Dons’ miserable season with a nondescript 0-0 draw with Swindon Town on Saturday.

Neither side looked capable of breaking the deadlock in a game that was ultimately a dead rubber for both, and it cruised through to the finish without much sparkle.

Keeping a fourth clean sheet in a row for the first time since November 2022, Dons would finish 19th in their lowest ever ebb.

After the emotional send-off for Dean Lewington a week earlier, the stalwart skipper dropped to the bench for his final outing for MK Dons as part of three changes to the side. Scott Hogan limped out against Grimsby while Jonathan Leko was ill in the lead up to the game in Wiltshire, and dropped to the bench. Laurence Maguire, Danilo Orsi and Callum Hendry came into the starting line-up.

Having started life at Dons with three consecutive clean sheets, Paul Warne watched on as his side were once again resolute at the back in the opening 45 minutes, but there was precious little else to write home about from the first-half.

Neither side were able to test the respective goalkeepers, with Connor Lemonheigh-Evans twice getting sight of goal but getting denied at the point of pulling the trigger, while Danny Butterworth sent a low cross fizzing through the six-yard box, which was as close as Swindon would come.

The second-half would follow a similar path. Joe Tomlinson limped out at the break for Tommi O’Reilly who tried to inject a bit more of an attacking feel to the game, but chances would remain rare for both sides.

The biggest cheer from the 791 travelling supporters came when Dean Lewington came out to warm-up late in the day, and came on in stoppage time, leading the cheers at the end of the game in an otherwise non-event of a season finale.

Referee: Declan Bourne

Attendance: 9,503 (791)

Swindon Town: Ripley, Wright, Ofoborh (Cotterill 77), Clarke (Hall 83), Glatzel, Smith (Westley 77), Kilkenny, Freckleton, Butterworth (Alston 83), Kirkman (Tshimanga 77), Ameen

Subs not used: Bycroft, Sobowale

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Maguire (Lewington 90), Sanders, Offord, Nemane, Tomlinson (O’Reilly 46), Thompson-Sommers, Lemonheigh-Evans, Kelly (White 76), Orsi (Leko 62), Hendry (Patterson 76)

Subs not used: Trueman, Waller

Booked: Sanders, Smith, Hendry