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Robbie: Draw the least Dons deserved

1 March 2017

Robbie Neilson felt MK Dons’ performance against Bradford City deserved at least a draw, if not more.

The men from MK1 built on last weekend’s 2-1 win over Shrewsbury Town by earning a point away at the fifth-placed Bantams, courtesy of a 2-2 draw in West Yorkshire.

“The performance definitely merited at least a point,” Neilson said afterwards. “This is a difficult place to come –they are undefeated here in a year – so to come here, get a point and create a lot of chances is good.

“We had opportunities in the second half to get the next goal and take the three points but it’s a good point.”

Here’s what else the manager had to say in his post-match press conference...

An entertaining game...
“It certainly was an entertaining game. I thought the team played really well. The pitch was really difficult to play on but I thought we got into good areas and scored two good goals. We created quite a few chances, we were just lacking that final bit of quality at the end.”

Tactical change...
“We knew coming here that (Bradford) play 4-4-2 or 4-3-2-1 and they really try to dominate possession. We felt we could break quickly on them with our pace if we could steal the ball in the final third. I thought we did that really well in the first half and second half.”

Penalty decision...
“I’ve seen it and there is a pull –the referee has got it right. It’s disappointing from our aspect because we shouldn’t be doing it.”



“We asked him to get wide and get some crosses in for someone to score at the end of it! But, we’ll take it. We’ve been speaking recently about watching the goals coming in on a Saturday and teams in League One seem to be picking up easy goals through people making mistakes. We haven’t had that fortunate but thankfully tonight we had a little bit of it and we got a goal from it.”
George Williams’ goal...





“These are the type of games that suit Robbie. The reason we brought him down is because he can run, he’s got pace, he can carry the ball and he hits teams on the counter-attack. This game suited him and Harvey (Barnes) down to a tee. They could break quickly with Stuart (O’Keefe) alongside them. We have to have different players who can play in different games. If it’s a total possession game and we’re dominating play then Robbie isn’t the player who is going to dictate the game. When it’s a game like this where we’re sitting in and using the counter-attack then he’s the player you need.”
Robbie Muirhead’s performance...

“When you look at the surface, there is hardly any grass on it. When you’re breaking quickly, at full place, it’s really difficult to pick the right weight of pass or angle. There’s that justification for it because it was difficult for the players to pick out passes. The key thing is we worked on a game plan and they did it –it was just that final bit of execution that we were missing.”
Decision-making in the final third...

“I’m disappointed. We spoke about (Charlie Wyke) and he was a key player we were trying to stop. They had great delivery from both sides, both in-swingers. We allowed them to get runners. They started at the edge of the 18, jinked and were away.  We need to try and stop the goals we’re conceding from set plays because in League One that’s so important.”
Defending for Bradford’s goals...


“Obviously we want to win every game. We wanted to come here and win but we know they’re on a good roll and they are playing at home where they are undefeated in a year. To come here, have a lot of chances and pick up a point is pleasing – it keeps the run going after our little dip. We need to go to the Den on Saturday and try to pick up three points but it’s going to be a difficult place to go.”
Four points a good return...

“It looks like a hamstring injury so we’ll get him scanned (on Wednesday). The pleasing thing is that he walked off. We spoke recently about how we still need to manage him –we were giving him 20 minutes but after 10 he’s pulled up. It’s just disappointing. Hopefully we can get him back as soon as we can.”
Chuks Aneke injury...

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