Suitors for MK Dons job can be under no illusions of the size of the matter at hand

What had threatened to be a rare positive week for MK Dons this season came crashing down around them on Saturday with a soulless 4-2 defeat to Fleetwood Town at Stadium MK. For potential suitors for the vacant head coach’s job though, it was exactly what was needed.

Consistency has been one of many things in short supply for Dons this season, though there have been more consistent downs than ups for fans to endure. But after promising shoots were seen in the away performances at Cheltenham and Carlisle in the seen days preceding Fleetwood’s visit to MK1, few could have predicted what would unfold.

Captain Alex Gilbey summed it afterwards: Dons took the lead, felt comfortable, and stopped playing. Conceding on the stroke of half-time, the side barely bothered in the second-half, allowing Fleetwood to run riot, picking up their fourth consecutive win over Dons, barely needing a shower for the coach journey home.

With the search for a new permanent head coach rumbling on behind-the-scenes, Saturday was not exactly the job advert the club would have wanted to put out there, but realistically, it was a glimpse at exactly what any would-be hire needed to see: the scale of the task at hand.

Watching the side do well, show glimmers of hope and battle in feisty environments at the EV Charger Points Stadium and Brunton Park is one thing, but seeing the full extent of Dons’ problems in plain view is actually a better indication for a new boss. If you can’t handle me at my worst, you don’t deserve me at my best.

Interim head coach Ben Gladwin has mentioned the squad’s scar tissue, built up over the course of the season, and it is clearly showing. Limping to the end of the season, someone or something needs to come along and galvanise what appears to be a team of individuals everyone expected so much more from. With morale through the floor, the players are in desperate need of a lift, especially when they crumble at the first sign of trouble.

Not only that, they need an effective style of play. For all their dominance in the first-half against Fleetwood, it sparked one real chance which led to a goal. Fleetwood only had 40 per cent of the ball, but created eight chances. There are a lot of good players in the squad, they haven’t just turned bad overnight, but some pieces are clearly missing. A playing style more adept at coping with the real League Two trials they have faced, and ultimately come unstuck by, on a week-on-week basis is essential. Never was it more apparent than on Saturday.

Losing to Fleetwood was one of many, but it felt like another low ebb for Dons this season. If there were any doubts before though, the next would-be head coach can be under no illusions what they will be walking into.