Agard in agony as Dons draw a blank

PAUL TISDALE outlined the attacking philosophy he expects from his MK Dons players – although they had to hold on for a goalless draw at Crewe after Mathieu Baudry’s late red card.

Kieron Agard blew a first-half chance when he headed against a post from a couple of yards out. It was a rare opening for the fancied Dons, who remain unbeaten, in an entertaining clash at Gresty Road.

Crewe were the better side in the first half, but they didn’t have enough time to take advantage of Baudry’s rush of blood to the head, which saw him given a straight red by referee Rob Lewis after a reckless lunge on defender Harry Pickering in the 89th minute.

Tisdale was happy with the draw, but the man who made the switch from Exeter to Stadium:Mk in the summer hopes his side can prove to be more effective in the final third.

“I’m trying to play football as I see it, but there is no intention to change things immediately. I want the players to show their personality,” said Tisdale.

“They will need to attack and be positive and I thought they showed some real intent today. It was an open game and there could have been goals, but maybe we are a bit disappointed we didn’t get the ball into the net and we have got something to improve on.”

Crewe started impressively and Callum Ainley was prominent as MK were pinned back. The winger forced a good stop from Lee Nicholls, while a deflected effort form James Jones fizzed past a post.

Agard signalled his intent when his rising drive just cleared the bar from 25 yards, but he had his head in his hands after his poor miss just before the interval.

Ryan Taylor latched onto Ousseynou Cisse’s knockdown to force a save out of Crewe keeper Dave Richards and sub Dylan Asongani sliced with the goal at his mercy.

But it was Crewe sub Chris Porter who was presented with an even better opening late on, only to hesitate in pulling the trigger, allowing Nicholls to snuff out the danger.

Crewe boss Dave Artell said: “It was a great game between two good teams and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. But the longer the game went on the least likely we looked like scoring.”