Injury fears eased with Dons pair making appearances in County draw

Fears of a striker shortage at MK Dons were eased on Saturday with four front-men all getting game time against Notts County.

Prior to the game, head coach Graham Alexander said neither Jonathan Leko nor Mo Eisa had trained all week in the lead up to the clash. Eisa limped out of the 2-1 win over Doncaster Rovers and had missed the defeat at Crewe a week later with a foot injury, while Leko picked up a knock in the game at the Mornflake Stadium.

But both were able to feature in the draw with County - Leko starting the game and being a handful for the visiting defence to have to deal with in the first-half especially, while Eisa was able to make a late appearance off the bench, replacing the impressive Max Dean.

Alexander said: “Mo hadn't trained for two weeks until Friday, Jon hadn't trained either until Friday so he was in better condition to start. But we knew Max would give us that energy.

“We've got decent goal threats but we have to make sure they're fully fit. For us to win, we need 11 fit players on the pitch.”

New signing Ellis Harrison too was able to make his Dons debut to add further to Alexander’s up-front options.

The 29-year-old deadline day signing from Port Vale came on with about half-an-hour to go, and should have won it at the death but somehow put Alex Gilbey’s cross over the bar from inside the six yard box.

Despite the miss, Alexander was pleased with the striker’s debut, adding: “It would have been a brilliant debut for him to come on and score, he just had to hit the target. But we know of Ellis' threats, he's shown he can get on the end of crosses.”