No blame on Sherring's shoulders after early own goal in Dons debut

Jack Tucker raced to the defence of centre-back partner Sam Sherring after the new man started life as an MK Dons player with an own goal against Bradford City.

Looking to clear a fifth minute cross away, Sherring sliced the ball past keeper Tom McGill as the Bantams raced into a 2-0 lead at Stadium MK.

Sherring, a summer signing from Northampton Town, recovered well though and had a solid game at centre-back, but despite Alex Gilbey’s 20th minute goal, Dons were unable to get back on level terms, tasting opening day defeat.

Tucker, knowing all too well the pressures of trying to make a good impression, said Sherring should shoulder no blame for the goal, and felt he bounced back brilliantly after the early set-back.

“It's horrible, you can't account for those sorts of things,” said Tucker. “It happens at the top level. Sherrs can pick his head up, he was brilliant after that. It can happen to anyone at any time so you can't blame him.

“It's tough coming into a big club like this, you want to make a good first impression, so that's unfortunate for him but he reacted brilliantly and I'm sure he'll be great for us this season.”

It was the early goals which ultimately cost Dons though. Starting slowly, Bradford overran the home side and took the lead through a cracking Alex Pattison effort from the edge of the box before Sherring’s unfortunate own goal.

Tucker continued: “The start is unacceptable from us. You can't start like that at any level, let alone against a good team like Bradford who will make it hard for us. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

“We settled down, but we were still sloppy in patches so we've got to tidy up. Our intensity picked up and ultimately we had chances to go and get back into the game. We just couldn't get it in the back of the net. It's disappointment all round today.”