Dean Bowditch insists the Dons can take plenty of positives from their draw with Sky Bet Championship leaders Middlesbrough.
The men from MK1 led Boro from the ninth minute of their clash on Tuesday evening thanks to Bowditch’s fine finish, before Jordan Rhodes snatched a point for his side in stoppage-time.
And although Bowditch was gutted not to come away from the game with all three points, he believes the side can benefit immensely from their superb performance.
“We’ve got to take a lot of positives out of the game,” he told MK Dons PlayerHD. “To play so well for 93 minutes against top of the league is very positive.
“They are the best in the league at the moment but we were solid, we restricted them to very few chances and created quite a few chances ourselves.
“To concede in the last minute is gutting, it almost feels worse than a loss. We can’t dwell on it, though, we’ve got to take the positives into the next game and go again.”
Bowditch’s goal was his fourth of the campaign and the Dons’ number nine was pleased with his finish.
“I thought I hit it relatively well. It went through the defender’s leg which might have unsighted the keeper. By the looks it of it he got a good hand to it but it just went straight through him and rolled in.
“It took a lifetime to go in and I didn’t celebrate straight away because I was waiting for it to go over the line. To see it nestle in was nice. We haven’t had so much luck in recent weeks so to see it creep over the line was fantastic
“It was good for me to score but it would have been nicer to pick up a couple of extra points.”
Many expected the Dons to struggle during their recent stretch of games given the opposition, but Karl Robinson’s men have so far come through the challenges of Cardiff City and Boro unbeaten and with two points to show for it.
Now, Bowditch and co are eager to maintain their form and continue to show why they deserve to remain in the division.
“We’re going to come up against more teams who can spend millions on strikers and we’ve just got to deal with that. We’ve got to make sure we believe we can stay in this division because I think we can.
“We’ve come up against two big teams and done very well and we’ve got points out of them. If we can keep playing the way we have done and maintain the positivity then I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
And although Bowditch was gutted not to come away from the game with all three points, he believes the side can benefit immensely from their superb performance.
“We’ve got to take a lot of positives out of the game,” he told MK Dons PlayerHD. “To play so well for 93 minutes against top of the league is very positive.
“They are the best in the league at the moment but we were solid, we restricted them to very few chances and created quite a few chances ourselves.
“To concede in the last minute is gutting, it almost feels worse than a loss. We can’t dwell on it, though, we’ve got to take the positives into the next game and go again.”
Bowditch’s goal was his fourth of the campaign and the Dons’ number nine was pleased with his finish.
“I thought I hit it relatively well. It went through the defender’s leg which might have unsighted the keeper. By the looks it of it he got a good hand to it but it just went straight through him and rolled in.
“It took a lifetime to go in and I didn’t celebrate straight away because I was waiting for it to go over the line. To see it nestle in was nice. We haven’t had so much luck in recent weeks so to see it creep over the line was fantastic
“It was good for me to score but it would have been nicer to pick up a couple of extra points.”
Many expected the Dons to struggle during their recent stretch of games given the opposition, but Karl Robinson’s men have so far come through the challenges of Cardiff City and Boro unbeaten and with two points to show for it.
Now, Bowditch and co are eager to maintain their form and continue to show why they deserve to remain in the division.
“We’re going to come up against more teams who can spend millions on strikers and we’ve just got to deal with that. We’ve got to make sure we believe we can stay in this division because I think we can.
“We’ve come up against two big teams and done very well and we’ve got points out of them. If we can keep playing the way we have done and maintain the positivity then I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
