Jackson torn between pleased and frustrated after draw with Portsmouth

Mark Jackson was not sure whether he was pleased or disappointed with MK Dons’ 1-1 draw with ten-man Portsmouth on Good Friday.

Mo Eisa’s second-half strike cancelled out Connor Ogilvie’s 13th minute volley, but came after Pompey were reduced when Joe Morrell was shown a straight red card for a clash with Daniel Harvie shortly before the break.

Dons piled on the pressure in the second-half before and after their equaliser, but it was Portsmouth sub Joe Pigott who came closest to settling the tie with a strike which clipped the bar in stoppage time.

While Dons extended their unbeaten run to five games - their longest run in a year - results elsewhere saw Dons’ margin to safety cut to three points.

Speaking afterwards, Jackson admitted he was torn by the result.

“I'm wrestling with it at the moment,” he admitted. “We've got to control our disappointment because going up against a team with ten-men for that amount of time, you'd expect to win. But we know how difficult that is. It's a good point though, a really good point. It keeps our run going.

“We kept knocking at the door, created opportunities, but it's hard againt ten man, and a good team who defended really well. Portsmouth are a strong team who had something to hold on to, and they're looking to push for the play-offs. They're fighting every minute of the way.

“We could have asked more questions with the final pass, the ball in the box, things like that, but I was pleased with how we controlled those moments in the game.”

On the red card, he said: “I didn't see it, I'll have to look again. I was told there was a knee in the back but I've not seen it.”

Tactical changes

With Morrell’s sending off coming just before the half-time interval, both sides changed their approach for the second-half, with Pompey content to sit back and absorb what Dons had to throw at them. Jackson replaced defender Anthony Stewart with striker Will Grigg just ten minutes after the break, before introducing Nathan Holland for Conor Grant to make best use of the width of the Stadium MK pitch.

Jackson said: “It all changed with the red card and they changed their approach.

“We made a tactical change in the second-half which helped us get a bit more impetus. We brought Anthony Stewart off, but it has nothing to do with performance or anything like that, but we felt we could work our way back into the game.

“The perception when you're playing ten men is that you'll automatically win, but nine time out of ten the defence is really hard to break down.

“Credit to Portsmouth for that, they were really strong defensively and defended their goal really well.”