Just back....

[terryr]

from a lively and loudest Cottage I can remember in ages
Right from the start MK Dons parked the bus and we seemed to advance at will to the edge of their box.
We had trouble breaking them down and with the exception of a couple of chances ( most notably hitting the woodwork- Dembele) we seemed threatening but couldnt seem to put the ball in the net.
They didn't appear a threat at all.
The second half we started to break them down and we managed to hold pssession. Shots were more numerous and the two goals were quality with McCormick and Dembele returning the favor to each other assisting the goals.
Though Dembele was at times very quiet, his first touch is clearly getting better and he  looked a real threat but was prone to periods of lethargy.
]Ince played a blinder and won pretty much everything in midfield.
Carney also played well but at times held onto the ball too long.
Tunny had the best game I can remember and set up the first goal with a tidy back heel to Dembele who crossed to Ross.
Stearman looked shaky at times and though over all played well he gave the ball away far too much.
Parker was good throughout and really put his body on the line in numerous tackles
Smith looked slow and ponderous when he came on and made no impact
We still appear poor against set pieces and the ball seemed to pass right through the box at corners,
A better team would have punished us .
Their goal appeared strange and I think Betts was caught off his line but defending seemed to let us down. I couldn't really see it as I was seated at the other end in the Riverside stand. The goal seemed to happen from nothing.
The goal was very much against the tide of play and we soon took back control
The referee was poor and our yellow cards were questionable.
All in all it was closer than it should have been and we should have kept a clean sheet and won by 3 or 4.

[Peabody]

Agree with all of that except their goal, it was caused by two of our centre halves going for the same ball, they hindered each other and left Betts exposed, he did get a hand to it but not enough.

Once again, Sad to say, the ref left a lot to be desired. He gave us yellows and merely spoke to them for similar free kicks. The booking for Tunni near the end was bizarre to say the least.

[HatterDon]

thanks for the report, Terry

[terryr]

The BBC report : Karl Robinson
"The officials cost us, his goal was onside - they know that, they understand that and they know they made an error."
"At 1-1 it's a big decision. It's a bitter pill to take. A draw would have been a fair result on the balance of the game.
"I don't think we deserved to win here, but I don't think they deserved to win either. But we've been beat and we have to take it on the chin."

Really????

[GrahamG]

I thought we were poor. Against a team with any pace we would have been in trouble. However, you can only beat what's in front of you and MK Dons were woeful and yet they could've grabbed a point. We had lots of efforts on goal but very little concerted pressure and with the way we lined up that can be no surprise. We still couldn't beat the first defender from corners and free-kicks and just look a bit of mess all over the pitch.

In the end, the result was everything and let's hope we can move on just a bit now. I was critical of Kit for the way we played against Rotherham and Wigan at the back end of last season and I saw no real difference today EXCEPT we got 3 points and that's enough of a difference for now.

[filham]

A real physical performance from us that resulted in a collection of yellow cards, not sure I liked the style but it is what was needed and I suppose the result justified the means. Interesting to see how the method works in the next two matches against better teams.

We had by far the best of the match and with improved shooting would have won comfortably. Ince in the centre of midfield was there as a destroyer, we saw little in the way of skill from him, but it did allow Parker to venture forward and turn in a man of the match performance.

We are still just out of the relegation zone and will have to continue to battle in this manner to survive, skill alone is obviously not going to bring us wins.

[Baszab]

If anyone in their right minds think we are improving after that performance they are off their rocker

What we did see was significant effort from all the players for a change and that is why we scraped home

The set up of the team was embarrassing

[PokerMatt]

http://www.skysports.com/football/fulham-vs-mk-dons/stats/339992

Looks to me like we were on top in every area. Sounded like it too - couldn't make the game, but Terry seems to think so in his OP.

[alfie]

If anyone in their right minds think we are improving after that performance they are off their rocker

What we did see was significant effort from all the players for a change and that is why we scraped home

The set up of the team was embarrassing

Goodness me why can't you just let people enjoy something that does not happen very often.
We got a win and who knows we may win the next game.

[grandad]

At this stage of the season & in our position it is a results business. We got the result & they didn´t. Our players are playing under so much pressure, especially at home, so I can forgive them for not playing silky easy on the eye football.

Every player gave as best they could. My MOTM was Tunnicliffe.

[Baszab]

I am posting my opinion because this is a message board

I am absolutely delighted and relieved we won and I was nervous all week about this fixture

It was an also exciting game...........

But please don't think we are "improving"

[Mince n Tatties]

If anyone in their right minds think we are improving after that performance they are off their rocker

What we did see was significant effort from all the players for a change and that is why we scraped home

The set up of the team was embarrassing

Goodness me why can't you just let people enjoy something that does not happen very often.
We got a win and who knows we may win the next game.

Agree..

[colinwhite]

The problem is bazab is that it is becoming less and less interesting to read your comments as they basically all harp back to the same thing .At the moment` improving` is irrelivant .It is only about results . Lets see how much we improve after the summer ,if we can stay up after this years fiasco. I respect your opinions ,but a little more impartiallity would be good.
Just saying.

[SP]

The bookings were bizarre.  Rosco committed the worst foul of the match & wasn't booked while their player had someone round the neck while dragging him down & escaped a booking.

Nothing but praise for their travelling fans, they got behind their team from about 1:30 right through to the end.

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[Ruiz11]

Despite being the better footballing side by far and having the better of the game, we were again shaky defensively and conceded too many chances from set pieces. By playing four centre backs across defence, Slavisa was trying to combat the threat of MK Dons' long balls (which, embarrassingly for them, was their only means of attacking) by playing physical, experienced, no-nonsense defenders, but Stearman looked uncomfortable at right back and we looked a different team when Fredericks came on instead.

I agree that Tunnicliffe worked hard but he is no winger. We were sorely lacking in width and it says a lot that Fredericks, a full-back, looked like our most dangerous wide attacker, particularly when he was only a sub. Ross had a quiet game by his standards but is so good that he still emerged from a comparatively average game having hit the post with a wonderful strike, scored, and claimed a clever assist for the winner.

I also thought Ince was very impressive, although his passing tailed off at the end, and Cairney looked bright in patches but suffered for being used on the wing instead of in attacking midfield, where he has the quality and vision to dictate the game. However, my overall man of the match was Moussa, who showed great intelligence to supply the assist for the opener, scored the winner and generally applied himself well. As people have alluded to, it's the result that matters, and the team performance was borne out of desire and effort rather than any sustained quality against a very poor team who will surely be relegated.

[MJG]

I am posting my opinion because this is a message board

I am absolutely delighted and relieved we won and I was nervous all week about this fixture

It was an also exciting game...........

But please don't think we are "improving"

did anyone say anything about improving?

Also I'm not convinced you are happy we won.

[MikeW]

Some of you on this board clearly forget we are not the Prem team you like to think we should be.  The team today seemed to my eyes to be set up to defend within our resources; the midfield was impressively robust and the attackers gave it every go from just about every angle.

We are 4th from bottom for god's sake!

Purist can go out the window for the next few weeks - it's about survival .... nothing else.  The ramifications can come at the seasons end.

[Scrumpy]

Some of you on this board clearly forget we are not the Prem team you like to think we should be.  The team today seemed to my eyes to be set up to defend within our resources; the midfield was impressively robust and the attackers gave it every go from just about every angle.

We are 4th from bottom for god's sake!

Purist can go out the window for the next few weeks - it's about survival .... nothing else.  The ramifications can come at the seasons end.

Spot on!  :54:

[GrahamG]

I don't agree with a lot of Baszab's posts but to suggest that he is lying or not happy that we won is a disgraceful slur.

[Whitesideup]

If anyone in their right minds think we are improving after that performance they are off their rocker

What we did see was significant effort from all the players for a change and that is why we scraped home

The set up of the team was embarrassing

Really? Yes we are lacking players in certain positions, yes we were set-up with 10 central players on the pitch, yes, the team was selected with a view to defending .. embarrassing? We were by far the better team in the first half .. and we won the game. I am not embarrassed.