Keeper earns the plaudits during Dons' win over Crawley Town

Goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray drew praise from MK Dons head coach Mike Williamson for keeping his side in it during their 2-0 win over Crawley Town on Friday.

Leading through Joe Tomlinson's early goal, MacGillivray made a string of vital saves in the first-half, and a crucial one from Adam Campbell in the second to keep the Red Devils out. Alex Gilbey's goal eight minutes from time secured Dons' fourth win in a row, rounding out 2023 with a nine game unbeaten run and up to sixth in the standings.

In recent games, MacGillivray has not been afforded much to do in the way of goalkeeping, particularly at home where he has kept clean sheets in the last three. But on a night when his side needed him, Williamson said the keeper proved his worth.

"He was excellent tonight," said Williamson. "In previous games, he's done really well but tonight he was called upon more than we'd have liked, but we need players to step up in games. He was tested, asked questions, he came through and I thought he was fantastic.

"The most pleasing thing for me was we hung in there when we had to. The boys put their bodies on the line, and some of them have run more in the first hour than they have in previous games. It shows you the endeavour, they'll do anything to stack the odds in our favour."

It was not the most convincing of nights for Dons though, despite the scoreline. Looking off-par for most of the night, Williamson highlighted the frantic festive period as a contributor, but said his side still put in the hard graft to get the win over the line.

He continued: "I think we looked tired in periods tonight but it's understandable at this point in the Christmas period but they deserve huge credit because they found a way. We had to do the ugly things, we had to suffer. We could have been more clinical with our press, and we gave the ball away cheaply a lot in the first-half.

"In the second-half, we came out, reset and we dominated periods.

"When things opened up in the second-half, our quality came through - we had some really good chances to put it to bed."