Ellery Balcombe - 6
His clean sheet was lost within three minutes when he was beaten by Mo Eisa's penalty, but Balcombe did well to deny the same man from long range soon after. Showed his ability in possession on both feet, but he was left with little chance of keeping out Mat Dean's late goal which clinched the contest for the visitors
James Gibbons - 5
Cut a frustrated figure in the closing stages as a pass went astray. Stuck to his task defensively, but needed to come up with a bit more quality on the ball.
Jarell Quansah - 5
Made a nightmare start to his home debut, conceding a cheap penalty inside two minutes when he showed a touch of naivety to bite at the ball with Eisa getting there just ahead of him. However, the Liverpool prospect did relatively well for long periods and MK were limited to relatively few chances throughout the game.
James Connolly - 5
Frustrated the fans with a couple of wayward passes out of defence in the first half, but he dug in and MK were allowed to create relatively little with their chances in transition.
Lewis Gordon - 5
A tentative display without the required conviction in defence or attack. Tidy enough and he takes up good positions when he inverts into central areas, but his contribution was minimised. To his credit, though, he had a tricky matchup with Jonathan Leko and he did not give him too much change in their duel.
Paul Coutts (c) - 5
Not in his best form. Made an unconvincing start, losing out to Josh McEachramn in the build-up to the first goal and he was booked early doors, leaving him in a difficult situation. Taken off at half time with Barton bringing on an extra attacker.
Grant Ward - 6
A steady performance on his home debut. Passed the ball with more efficiency than most and he patrolled the central area in the second half, allowing the Gas to sustain possession in the MK half for a period.
Sam Finley - 5
The will to make things happen is there, but things are not coming off at the usual rate for the 30-year-old at the moment. Battled hard but the Gas could never quite get into gear despite their control of possession.
Scott Sinclair - 5
A disjointed first half gave him few platforms to attack and he struggled to impose himself on the game until he was taken off just after the hour mark.
Aaron Collins - 6
Scoring chances evaded him with MK doing a good job of defending their area, but Collins did deliver three good balls into the area. One in the first half came from a clever headed cross into the six-yard area which Coburn could not convert. After the interval, there were a pair of menacing deliveries from the right but Loft could force neither on target; admittedly, they were half chances. Rovers have lost three straight now and the obvious route out of this slump is to work out ways of getting Collins into the game more now that teams are well aware of his ability. Easier said than done.
Josh Coburn - 5
His most difficult game to date. Was given absolutely no assistance by a dreadful referee, but Coburn also could have been stronger in his attempts to hold the ball up. Taken off in the closing stages with the Gas chasing an equaliser.
Substitutes
Ryan Loft (for Coutts on 46') - 6
Immediately upped the intensity up front and gave the MK defence some moments of discomfort, but only a couple of half chances came his way.
Luke McCormick (for Sinclair on 63') - 5
Could not find a pass to unlock the defence.
Harry Anderson (for Gordon on 77') - 6
His attacking intent gave Rovers a different edge on the left flank, but it didn't materialise into a leveller.
John Marquis (for Coburn on 77') - 6
Put himself about as ever, but the Gas had a hard time creating throughout the contest and Marquis experienced the same shortage of service.
Lamare Bogarde (for Ward on 87') - N/A
Not used: Anssi Jaakkola, Luca Hoole.
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