One small step for Dons, one giant leap for Paul Tisdale

A goal-less draw against Coventry City might not be the best result of the season, but it is a huge weight off the shoulder of Paul Tisdale.
Paul TisdalePaul Tisdale
Paul Tisdale

Heading into the clash, Dons had lost five games in a row and slumped down to the brink of the League One relegation zone. But after surviving a penalty and hitting the bar in stoppage time, the point - their first since September 14 - was vital in turning things around for the club.

"I'm delighted to get a clean sheet and a point – it seems like a small step but it's actually a big step for us," said Tisdale afterwards. "In the grand scheme of things, we'd have taken a draw. We had to save a penalty, Coventry had some good attacking play but not many chances in the first half.

"Lee (Nicholls) had to make some big saves, of course, the penalty save was as good as a goal for us. That's a really big moment for us. But we built the performance nicely. In order to have the second half, we needed that first half platform. There were three or four occasions in the first half where we didn't have the shot, but we had opportunities to slide people in.

I'm pleased with how we've done and really proud of the players for the effort they put in.

"I thought it was a really good game."

READ THE REPORT: MK Dons 0-0 Coventry CityTisdale started the game without a recognised striker on the field, opting to use Hiram Boateng as the outlier at the top of the pitch. Without strikers Joe Mason, Rhys Healey, Jordan Bowery and Sam Nombe for the game, Tisdale said recent result have shown he had to do something different with his team to try and get a goal.

"It was something we were talking about since Sunday," he said. "You have to be brave as a manager sometimes. It seemed like an odd decision, but we have to try things. We looked at Coventry and how we were going to get to their goal. We've huffed and puffed in the last few weeks, so we had to try something different."