Jackson proud of Dons’ second-half response in Derby draw

Mark Jackson was delighted with side after they snatched a 1-1 draw at Pride Park against Derby County on Easter Monday.

The Rams had 28 attempts on goal but only David McGoldrick’s 17th minute tap-in put them on the scoresheet. Derby also had two penalty appeals turned away - one handball which in fact hit one of their own players and another when Zak Jules clashed with Jason Knight - but their squandered opportunties allowed Henry Lawrence to net his first career league goal to earn Dons a point.

But after a poor first-half performance should have seen them well out of the game, Jackson was pleased with how his side responded.

“I'm really proud of what we did in the second-half,” said Jackson. “We had to be honest at half-time, we knew it wasn't good enough and we had to do things differently in the second-half. Credit to the players, we executed what we had to do perfectly.

“We had to defend, backs to the wall at times from Derby's set-plays and pressure they put on us, but they put that on a lot of teams that come to Pride Park. I'm just delighted we were able to do that in the second half and get the point.

“We weren't just going to sit back. There were times we felt we could press and put Derby under pressure, and we didn't do it enough in the first-half. The response from the players and the subs, I cannot ask for more from them.”

The draw extended Dons’ unbeaten run to six matches and moved them four points clear of the relegation zone, with Jackson adding: “We wanted to keep the run going, we approach every game differently but wanting to win it. Coming here, if we'd been offered a point we'd have been happy with it.

“It shows we can compete with teams at the top of the table, which is a real positive in the here and now but also in the future. It provides belief.”