Recent draws ‘have massively helped’ Dons in their fight for survival, says Lawrence

Goal-scorer Henry Lawrence said picking up points in each of their last three games is a massive boost to confidence at MK Dons.

After three consecutive wins against teams in the relegation scrap, Dons faced Wycombe Wanderers, Portsmouth and Derby County - all three chasing the play-offs in the closing stages of the season, and all three unable to beat Mark Jackson’s side.

With Dons’ unbeaten run extended to six now with three wins and three draws, Lawrence, who scored the equaliser to take a point from Pride Park on Easter Monday, said the mood is high in the camp.

“Every point matters,” he said. “We're six unbeaten, but we have to keep it going. We've got a big game coming up on Saturday against Cheltenham.

“All those teams are pushing for promotion, so to get anything from them has massively helped us get towards our target.

“You can see the confidence now, everyone's feeling it and we feel we can go into every game and win it.”

Big defensive performance

Dons were, for large parts of the game against Derby, distinctly second-best, especially in the first-half. Derby racked up 28 shots on goal during the game as the visitors defended vehemently. The hosts should have been high and dry at the break but only went in a goal ahead, courtesy of David McGoldrick’s 17th minute tap-in.

Lawrence netted his first career league goal on 68 minutes when he converted Nathan Holland’s cross in a rare Dons attack, before having to see out nine additional minutes of stoppage time at the end as Derby sent a barrage of balls into the penalty area to no avail.

Lawrence said: “It's a big point, first and foremost. Coming away to Derby, who are pushing for the play-offs, being 1-0 at half-time and not playing the best football we have this season, we'll definitely take a point.

“We held, on which we have to do in those situations. If you go in 2-0 down at half-time, it's even harder. We stuck together though, and going in 1-0 down we knew we'd create chances in the second-half, which we did. I think we could have gone on to win it too.

“We knew Derby would throw everything at us but as a defensive unit, we had to stick together to grind it out, which we did.”