Although disappointed with the overall display, defender Ben Tilney was pleased with the character MK Dons showed to twice fight back from a goal down against Rochdale.
The men from MK1 fell behind to a Steven Davies header early in the first half but equalised through Kieran Agard’s 13th goal of the season.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing put the Dale back in front on 84 minutes but Ben Reeves struck in stoppage time to earn the Dons, who were never really at their fluent best all afternoon, a share of the spoils
“It does show good character to come back,” Tilney told MK Dons PlayerHD. “We’ve just got to be a lot more ruthless during the game and much more aggressive, not letting it get to the 90th minute for us to get a point.
“We started slowly which killed us for the rest of the game. We needed to keep the ball more in the first half and get in crosses and shots – we didn’t do enough of that and when we did, we looked dangerous.
“In the second half we threatened and had a lot more chances but we’ve got to have that more of a common theme throughout the game.”
He added: “Right at the end, as soon as Reevesy scored we went and grabbed the ball because we wanted to go again and grab the winner. We just can’t keep leaving it that late – we’ve got to create chances earlier and take them too.”
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing put the Dale back in front on 84 minutes but Ben Reeves struck in stoppage time to earn the Dons, who were never really at their fluent best all afternoon, a share of the spoils
“It does show good character to come back,” Tilney told MK Dons PlayerHD. “We’ve just got to be a lot more ruthless during the game and much more aggressive, not letting it get to the 90th minute for us to get a point.
“We started slowly which killed us for the rest of the game. We needed to keep the ball more in the first half and get in crosses and shots – we didn’t do enough of that and when we did, we looked dangerous.
“In the second half we threatened and had a lot more chances but we’ve got to have that more of a common theme throughout the game.”
He added: “Right at the end, as soon as Reevesy scored we went and grabbed the ball because we wanted to go again and grab the winner. We just can’t keep leaving it that late – we’ve got to create chances earlier and take them too.”
“I could have probably created a few more chances and linked up with the strikers more. I’ve just got to learn from the experience and when I do get the opportunity to play again, I’ve got to do well as I can.”
“We set up for me to be more attacking, which I enjoy. I had Reevesy and Harvey (Barnes) in front of me and I enjoy playing with them.
“I was happy to get the assist. I’ve been working on my crossing in training so it was good to see all that practicing has gone into the game.
Tilney made his third Sky Bet League One appearance for the Dons in Saturday’s game and the 19-year-old impressed once again, providing the assist for Agard’s goal as well as earning the sponsor’s Man of the Match award.
