Late Naylor header denies Dons a return to winning ways at Chesterfield

A late Tom Naylor header denied MK Dons a return to winning ways on Saturday as they shared the points in a 1-1 draw with Chesterfield.

With both sides losing back-to-back games heading into the clash at the SMH Group Stadium, an injury-hit Dons looked good value for their lead when Rushian Hepburn-Murphy started and finished a good move on 25 minutes.

But as the hosts, who like Dons were backed to be automatic promotion contenders at the start of the season, built up a head of steam towards the end, Naylor flicked home from a corner with four minutes to go to secure a point.

The result sees Dons drop to 11th in the table with eight games played.

Injury once again struck the MK Dons camp as Jack Sanders, Kane Wilson and Scott Hogan missed out on the trip to Derbyshire, while suspended Jon Mellish was also out as Paul Warne was forced into making four changes to take on Chesterfield. Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Dan Crowley both made their first starts of the season, while Nathaniel Mendez-Laing returned from international duty and Aaron Nemane was deployed once again at full-back. Positive news though came on the bench, with Aaron Collins back in contention after breaking his arm on the opening day of the season.

Looking to put a string of slow starts behind them, Dons looked the quickest to settle into the game. Russian Hepburn-Murphy was seeing joy down the right, while Crowley, starting his first game in 161 days, was orchestrating play in the centre of the park.

The home side did have the early chances though, with Vontae Daley-Campbell firing into the side netting and Lewis Gordon forcing Craig MacGillivray into a finger-tip save over the bar.

Dons meanwhile came close with a header from Callum Paterson before taking a deserved lead after 25 minutes. Capitalising on a slip from Armando Dobra, Hepburn-Murphy nipped in to exchange passes with Paterson, who turned the ex-Crawley man in behind to rifle under keeper Zach Hemming.

Chances would be rare for both sides as the entertaining game unravelled, though the second-half would be a patchy and stop-start affair.

A rejuvenated home side, just as they did in the fiery encounter on New Year’s Day, would begin to build up momentum and a head of steam in the latter stages, but did not really cause Dons much problem other than from set pieces.

And so it would be when, with four minutes to go, Tom Naylor flicked home Liam Mandeville’s corner to share the spoils.

Referee: Edward Duckworth

Attendance: 8,127 (592)

Chesterfield: Hemming, Daley-Campbell (Tanton 62), Dunkley, McFadzean, Gordon, Naylor, Fleck, Markanday (Mandeville 78), Darcy (Dickson 78), Dobra (Lewis 90), Bonis (Grigg 62)

Subs not used: Boot, Grimes

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Offord, Ekpiteta, Nemane, Lemonheigh-Evans, Kelly, Crowley (Collar 73), Gilbey, Mendez-Laing (Collins 62), Hepburn-Murphy (Leko 82), Paterson

Subs not used: Trueman, Tripp, Lewis-Burgess, Medwynter

Booked: Crowley, Mendez-Laing, Hepburn-Murphy, Dobra, Gilbey, Paterson