League Two: Oldham Athletic 1-1 MK Dons

A late Michael Fondop header denied MK Dons their first win in three games as they had to settle for a share of the spoils against Oldham Athletic on Easter Monday.

Leading and looking relatively comfortable against the league’s form side in the Latics, Dons were heading towards victory thanks to Marvin Ekpiteta’s goal on the half-hour, but Fondop’s bullet header six minutes from time ensured a share of the spoils in an entertaining game at Boundary Park.

While Dons dropped points, Cambridge United also conceded a stoppage time equaliser against Cheltenham Town, though Notts County and Swindon both capitalised. Leaders Bromley play on Tuesday.

Injury to Jon Mellish forced Paul Warne into making a change at wing-back for the trip to Boundary Park, replacing him with Aaron Nemane with Connor Lemonheigh-Evans coming onto the bench, having missed out on the squad against Barrow on Good Friday.

The in-form Latics fancied themselves for a late play-off berth having won nine of their previous 11 games, but after having a little flurry of activity in the opening five minutes of the game at Boundary Park, Dons settled nicely and looked the more to make something happen.

Callum Paterson, who broke his nose on his return to action against Barrow on Good Friday, was sporting a protective mask for the first-half, but ditched it as the half wore on, clearly not getting on with it has he fought against Oldham centre-halves Manny Monthe and Donervan Daniels.

Having found it hard to score in recent games, Dons looked to two unlikely candidates to open the scoring on the half-hour, with Curtis Nelson hooking a cross to the far post for Marvin Ekpiteta to head in as the visitors took the lead.

It could have been more before the break too, with Ben Wiles flicking the side-netting with a left-footed effort before a last-ditch challenge from Jamie Robson denied Gethin Jones a clean shot after neat work from Wiles to get him in behind.

The second-half followed a fairly similar path, with Dons looking comfortable out of possession, allowing Oldham to have more of the ball, but the hosts struggled to create anything meaningful.

The more of the ball they had though, the more the pressure began to mount but also gaps began to appear in behind. Jones again managed to get in behind but fired harmlessly into Hudson’s arms, while Paterson nearly capitalised when Daniels allowed the ball to bounce over him, but the Scot scooped his effort just wide.

Oldham had barely created a chance all afternoon but they came close when Josh Hawkes fired through a crowd of players, calling Craig MacGillivray into a big save.

The hosts would get their reward though when Michael Fondop finally got some chance from the Dons defence, heading in Hawkes’ cross with six minutes to go to snatch a point.

Referee: Steven Copeland

Attendance: 8,920 (525)

Oldham Athletic: Hudson, Pett (Hammond 85), Daniels, Monthe, Taylor (Hawkes 56), Woods, Fondop, Drummond (Payne 85), Sutton, Kavanagh (Garner 56), Robson

Subs not used: Donaghy, Leake, Simeu

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Sanders, Ekpiteta, Nelson, Nemane (Tomlinson 89), Jones (Hepburn-Murohy 89), Kelly (Mendez-Laing 74), Wiles, Gilbey, Collins (Lemonheigh-Evans 64), Paterson

Subs not used: Trueman, Crowley, Hogan

Booked: Gilbey, Nelson