Purposeful Dons make light work of Bristol Rovers

MK Dons made light work Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night to win their second game on the spin.

Scott Fraser opened the scoring after 16 minutes before Will Grigg ended his 10-game run without a goal on the hour mark. Rovers hit the bottom of the pile as a result of the loss, with even a consolation Luke Leahy penalty in stoppage time was easily saved by Andrew Fisher.

The win puts Dons 10th in the table with three games remains.

After their 1-0 win over Portsmouth on Saturday, Russell Martin made one change to the side, brining back Josh McEachran to partner David Kasumu in the centre of the park, replacing Andrew Surman who dropped to the bench.

Joey Barton accused Dons of playing without purpose when he watched them against Lincoln seven days earlier but saw his side run ragged in the opening half at the Memorial Stadium.

Scott Fraser fired Dons into the lead with his 13th goal of the season when he tapped in after Matt O'Riley and Will Grigg had combined for the striker to draw a save from Anssi Jaakkola.

Matthew Sorinola was the root cause of all Rovers' problems as he drifted out wide and found plenty of space to run at former Dons team-mate George Williams. Ethan Laird was inches away from heading in Sorinola's cross, but the best chance of the half for Dons came with two minutes to go before the break wen Sorinola thumped one against the bar from the edge of the box.

The second half followed a similar theme as Rovers were in no doubt told of results elsewhere going against them as their battle for League One survival looked more and more remote.

Despite making three changes at the interval, Rovers offered up precious little to trouble Andrew Fisher.

Those survival hopes though were dealt a huge blow when Will Grigg finally ended his 10-game goal-less run on the hour mark as Dons doubled their advantage. Josh McEachran's free kick was over Harry Darling but found Zak Jules who put the ball back into the mix, it hit a few Rovers legs before Grigg was on hand two-yards out to prod it home.

While the home side frantically tried to get a look at Dons' goal, the visitors remained in real control, with only a James Daly effort into the side netting of any concern heading into stoppage time. Daly would win his side a stoppage time penalty to give Rovers something to take from the game when he was downed by Harry Darling, but Fisher made light work of the poor penalty from Luke Leahy to keep Dons' clean sheet in tact.

Referee: James Oldham

Bristol Rovers: Jaakkola, Leahy, Hanlan (Oztumer 46), McCormick, Kilgour, Ayunga, Harries (Baldwin 46), Walker (Westbrooke 46), Rodman (Daly 70), Martinez, Williams

Subs not used: Day, Westbrooke, Hare, Tutonda, Baldwin, Oztumer

MK Dons: Fisher, Lewington, Darling, Jules, Laird, Sorinola, McEachran (Hoighton 80), Kasumu (Surman 71), O'Riley, Fraser (Sorensen 90), Grigg (Brown 80)

Subs not used: Nicholls, Sorensen, Mason, Bird

Booked: Rodman, Sorinola, Kasumu, Fisher, Martinez, Kilgour