Offord anticipated Crawley's intense approach in draw with MK Dons
Goal-scorer Luke Offord spoke after MK Dons’ 1-1 draw with Crawley Town
The MK Dons players knew there would be an extra element of needle between themselves and Crawley Town on Tuesday night.
From Crawley’s play-off win in 2024, to the exchange of players between the two squads and Scott Lindsey’s five-month stint at Stadium MK and subsequent return to the Broadfield Stadium following his sacking in March, the first clash between the sides in over a year was due to have some extra edge to it.
And so it played out, with a bubbling atmosphere in Sussex both on and off the pitch. Finishing 1-1, with Luke Offord’s 70th minute header cancelling out Ade Adeyemo’s strike deep into first-half stoppage time, the sides had to settle for a point apiece.
The game rapidly shot from end-to-end for the duration of the encounter, with some physical challenges flying in from both sets of players. And the combative nature of the game came as no surprise to Offord, who said they were well aware of what to expect from the clash.
“We knew coming into the game they hadn’t won in three but they would be bang up for it,” he said. “It was a tough game. I’ve played here before and it’s never easy, especially against a Scott Lindsey team.
“We knew it would be tough, and it was. It was end-to-end, with a lot of chances so it was a good point in the end.
“The pitch is small here isn’t it, and they went with two up top so they were going for it and throwing everything at us. It was a difficult game, but I think we edged it and could’ve nicked it on another day.
“Points away from home are still good, and if we can win again on Saturday (away at Newport County), it’s a good point here. We’re unbeaten, we’ve started the season in form and we’ve just got to keep that going.
“We look hard to beat, we look on the front foot and that we’re going to score goals. We want to have more control in games but we’ll only get better. Tonight, we could’ve scored more goals too.”