Step in the right direction, says Gladwin after ding-dong draw with Carlisle

Interim boss Ben Gladwin was pleased with what he saw for long spells during MK Dons’ thrilling 2-2 draw with Carlisle United on Tuesday night.

Twice pegged back by Carlisle in the first-half, after goals from Joe Tomlinson and Alex Gilbey were cancelled out by Matt Dennis and Kadeem Harris, the spoils were shared with the EFL’s bottom club at Brunton Park as both sides’ quest for back-to-back wins goes on.

With chances to have put the game out of reach in the first-half, mixed with cheap goes given up at the other end, Gladwin said there was an air of disappointment about not winning.

“We probably have won the game, but it's a tough place to come. We'll take it and move on,” he said. “The perfectionist in us wants to come here and really dominate, but that's quite disrespectful to think we could come here and control everything, especially when they are fighting.

“I think we were exceptional for the first 25 minutes, had complete control of the game. I don't know what swung the momentum away from us but we came away from it, from what we are and what we were doing.

“The boys were brilliant on the whole and it is a step in the right direction, but we're disappointed not to come away with a win.

“Carlisle are fighting, this is a tough place to come and the atmosphere was very good here, and the boys stood up to the test.

“We knew if we managed the energy in the place, they would feel it, they would ask their players to press and we could go through them. The first goal was a great example of that. To do that for 90 minutes is the next step as a team, but there were some really good signs.”