Penalty costs Dons points in draw with struggling Tranmere Rovers

Luke Norris converted a penalty with 11 minutes to go as MK Dons’ win-less run continued on Saturday, drawing 1-1 with struggling Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park.

Leading through Danilo Orsi’s first goal for the club after 31 minutes, Dons missed a great chance for a second midway through the second-half when Scott Hogan had rounded the keeper, before late bombardment of their goal eventually paid off when Dan Crowley was adjudged to have fouled Sol Soloman, allowing substitute Luke Norris to roll in the equaliser.

The result leaves Dons to lick their wounds once more, now sitting 16th in League Two.

Danilo Orsi and Travis Patterson were handed their first MK Dons starts for the trip to Prenton Park as part of three changes from the side which started at Barrow earlier in the week. Joe Tomlinson and Callum Hendry both dropped to the bench, while ill Jack Sanders missed out entirely, though returning Luke Offord slotted into the back line after missing the previous four through injury.

The sides had, combined, picked up just 18 points from a possible 87 heading into the game and such was their poor form, the opening half-an-hour certainly played out like two poor teams.

Neither could make anything stick in the final third, Dons were poor in possession, while Tranmere simply could not pick out a pass when they got into dangerous positions, and moves quickly fizzled out.

The best action of the first-half came watching Patterson and ex-Dons full-back Cameron Norman battle on and off the ball, with both having armfuls of each others shirts, scrapping and wrestling throughout the opening half.

With the game screaming out for something, it came on 31 minutes when Orsi raced onto Alex Gilbey's hopeful ball over the top, and though keeper Luke McGee tipped his chip up into the air, the Burton loanee was able to head into the empty net to give Dons the lead.

Unlike on Tuesday, Dons made a decent hash of things at the start of the second-half, fending off a renewed Rovers. And they should have wrapped the game up on 64 minutes when Dan Crowley expertly skipped through two Tranmere players to feed Hogan, who did everything right to round McGee, only to see the keeper make a fine stop to deny him Dons' second.

That save seemed to light a fire under the home side, and from there, an equaliser looked inevitable. For the next 15 minutes, Dons were hemmed into their own penalty area, unable to get anything beyond the half-way line as wave after wave of Tranmere attacks came their way.

Descending into more and more of a hand-to-hand combat match, Dons rode their luck one too many times when with 11 minutes to go, Sol Soloman hit the deck under pressure, winning a penalty for his side, allowing Luke Norris to send Trueman the wrong way for a share of the spoils.

Referee: Stephen Parkinson

Tranmere Rovers: McGee, Norman, Turnbull, Davison (Saunders 46), Garrett (Norris 61), Merrie, Jennings, Soloman (Finley 86) O'Connor, Patrick, Drysdale (Wood 33)

Subs not used: Murphy, Hawkes, Dennis

MK Dons: Trueman, Offord, Lawrence, Patterson, Lemonheigh-Evans, Williams (Hendry 80), Kelly (Waller 71), Crowley, Gilbey, Orsi (Thompson-Sommers 71), Hogan

Subs not used: Harness, Tomlinson, Nemane, O’Reilly

Booked: Williams, Orsi, Patterson