War wounds of MK Dons' brutal season are laid bare on the pitch

A season of strife has caused the MK Dons players to play within themselves and with a fear of making mistakes.

In a campaign which promised so much, the squad has fallen dramatically short of expectations, sitting 18th in League Two, losing half of their games this term, most recently going down 3-0 to Port Vale on Saturday.

Other than a six-game streak of wins through October and November, there has been precious little to write home about in a positive sense for the side, who are now onto their fourth head coach of the campaign in the form of interim boss Ben Gladwin.

The shell-shock of the season matched with the heavy weight of expectation from everyone at the club, according to Gladwin, has paid a heavier toll on the mentality of the players he has inherited from Scott Lindsey, sacked two weeks ago. Quick to withdraw within themselves at the first signs of trouble, particularly when going a goal behind, Gladwin felt the wounds of a brutal season are showing plain as day, but that getting over those wounds is easier said than done.

“You can build up a lot of scar tissue up over the course of a season,” he explained. “It's not gone well a lot this year, so naturally the players will look to build up that scar tissue to protect themselves from the external pressures and noise. As coaches, we have to try and undo that in the space of just a few days.

“We're relying on starting well and feeling good, and if that doesn't happen, it deteriorates. We have to keep the players some resilience where they feel they can overcome setbacks. It's not easy, but they're giving everything.”

At Vale Park, Dons looked a decent match for Darren Moore’s promotion-chasing side, shading the opening 27 minutes. But when Nico Lawrence lost possession for Lorent Tolaj to net the opener, the complexion of the game changed dramatically. Dons ended the half on the back foot, and started the second there too, going behind within five minutes of the restart, never really looking like getting back into it.

For Gladwin, he said Lawrence’s unfortunate mistake saw his players stop doing what was giving them a decent footing in the game until that point, and should not have impacted the side as much as it did.

He said: “If the game doesn't go the way we want it to, we go into self-preservation mode. They don't want to make mistakes, but we cannot afford to be that way - you'll never threaten a goal that way. We have to match the other team's intensity and ability to run.

“We can't legislate for mistakes, but we have to become closer and show a belief and resilience straight away to go and attack.”