Paul Warne content to see MK Dons bounce back to draw against Huddersfield Town

MK Dons boss Paul Warne said he was content to see his side come back for a share of the points against Huddersfield Town at Stadium MK.

Joe Taylor’s early goal had put Huddersfield ahead and the Terriers would duly create and miss several chances for more goals, with the Dons able to take a point thanks to Aaron Collins’ equaliser just after half-time.

Reflecting after the game, Warne said that he was reasonably content that his side picked up a share of the points.

He said, “At half-time, I would’ve been over the moon with a point – it would’ve felt like 4 points. But by the end of the game, I thought we finished really well, were in the ascendancy for large parts of the second half. We just can’t greedy. Start of the season, there’s always strange performances and results but there was loads of things in that which I really liked and that’s what pleases me.

“We rode our luck, put it that way. First half, the woodwork and Craig (MacGillivray) kept them at bay as they tore us a new one really with their pace up top. We struggled with it, but we tweaked a little bit at half-time, asked the lads to play a bit more fearlessly and I thought second half, we were excellent. I thought we were the only team that were going to win it.

“However, I did have a feeling they could go the other end – maybe I’m still traumatised from last week to be fair – but generally speaking, we’re always going for three points, we made subs to be more attacking and they came on and did well but unfortunately it’s just a point today. Generally, I think I’ll go home tonight pleased with it.”

One element where Warne felt his side could’ve offered more before the half-time break was going forward, but he felt the team reacted positively to a suggested tweak to play quicker football.

He said, “I actually thought our box-to-box build play was ok but we just didn’t have anything in the final third. We didn’t really have much – I think we had more touches in their box than they did in ours but they were a lot more ruthless, pulled the trigger and looked more dynamic. We looked more agricultural, that’s probably the nicest way to put it. So we asked the lads to speed up their play and decision making and we went from one extreme to the other.”

Warne revealed that goalscorer Collins was close to being taken off, but the Dons boss praised the former Bolton man for his finish and his partnership with Sam Nombe.

He said, “He did well not to get subbed as he just gave the ball away. You see things in players when they make mistakes that sometimes they bounce back and sometimes it starts eroding their performance.

“He took his goal really well. There’s no one I’d prefer in the team than him cutting inside from there. It’s a really good goal, his performance was really good and he was accompanied by Sam, who worked the frontline tirelessly and caused all sorts of problems.”

After two games back in the division, the Dons have 2 points from draws with Oxford and the Terriers, and Warne said he felt his side were making a decent start at demonstrating they belong at the level.

He said, “I think that the standard of the opposition is greater but most of my players have played at this level, if not higher, so it’s not a massive deal. What I do think is the higher the leagues you go, the more ruthless the strikers are and their strikeforce was better than anything we faced last year. Last year, if someone got clean through, you probably wouldn’t be as confident it hit the back of the net, whereas today it did. The lads who were here with me last year wanted to get back into this league and then go up again.

“In four halves of football, we’ve played two and a half really well and one and a half needs improving.”