“No way we should lose that game”: MK Dons boss on Harrogate defeat

After having more than 20 shots and hitting the frame of the goal, Graham Alexander felt his MK Dons side did more than enough to beat Harrogate Town on Saturday, not lose it.

While Mo Eisa, Joe Tomlinson and Daniel Harvie all tested keeper Matt Oxley with first-half efforts, an outlandish own goal - which saw Dons keeper Craig MacGillivray fire the ball into defender Warren O’Hora and into the net - proved to be the decisive moment at Stadium MK as Dons slipped to 11th in League Two, rounding out a win-less September.

While he and his side were booed from the park at the full-time whistle, Alexander said his side did more than enough to have won the game, and in fact played better through the course of the game than they did in some of their earlier games which brought wins.

“We dominated the game,” he said. “You get those games, or results in isolation. When they come when you're flying, you put them down to bad luck. If you've not had good results before, you get a lot of frustration.

“Anyone looking at that game in the cold light of day will know we deserved to win it, probably more than a few of the games we won at the start of the season.

“It was a difficult result. There's no way we should lose that game with the chances we created. The keeper has made some wonderful saves.

“We gave away a really, really poor goal had it played into an away team's hands who sat deep and looked to counter us.

“They sat deeper and deeper, became a solid back 11 and it was difficult to break down.

“We could have been better, but I cannot admonish the players for their efforts and commitment. It's a tough result to take, one I don't think was deserved but that's football.”

Despite the catalogue of efforts which led to the own goal though, Alexander refused to lay blame at anyone’s door.

He added: “Honest players make mistakes, everyone makes them. I won't jump all over them, they know there was a mistake. They're good pros, good trainers and wanted to be proactive, it just hasn't come off for us.”