Ben Gladwin feels Fleetwood defeat sums up MK Dons' malaise

MK Dons’ interim head coach Ben Gladwin felt a home reverse against Fleetwood Town summed up a difficult position for the side.

The Dons boss spoke after a difficult afternoon at Stadium MK for the League Two side. After taking the lead through Danilo Orsi’s strike, the concession of four goals sent the Dons on their way to a 4-2 defeat as part of a difficult 2025 where the Dons have only won four times so far since the turn of the year.

Gladwin reflected the defeat was representative of a difficult sequence as the team struggle to consistently get the winning feeling.

He said, “I think it’s unfortunately the reality of where the group are currently at. The first 18 minutes were exactly how we intended with a lot of stuff we’d rehearsed and spoken about it. The intensity and intent to hurt the opposition was there, but then in the last 15 minutes of the first half, I could feel it coming off. Then we concede and it was a real familiar feeling at half-time.

“It’s something I’ve seen here. It’s not at all to throw the players under the bus because we’re all part of that. It’s just about trying to find a solution to bring the players to a place where they can react and overcome adversity. It’s a big part of football. It’s not good enough at all.”

Gladwin was particularly disappointed with the nature of the quartet of Fleetwood goals.

He said, “I’ve just watched a few of them back and they would be hard to explain and justify. They’re almost that bad that they’re not worth mentioning.”

With MK Dons stuck in the bottom half of League Two after a season that has seen the Dons managed by four different people, Gladwin reflected that his task was to try and get the team in the best place possible while he is in charge.

He said, “I understand where it comes from. The amount of scar tissue that’s built up over the year means just currently, where the group is at is not great. But we, me, whoever comes in, whatever happens, it’s like, you can’t just wait for pre-season. Something needs to happen right now. We have a big game on Wednesday to prepare for now and we have to dust ourselves down and find a way to prepare properly for that.”

Having picked up four points away in their time since their last home game, Gladwin said he had hoped the team would be able to prove to home fans they were turning a corner, but reflected the team were still in a place from which they would need to find consistent improvements.

He said, “My message to the players before the game was to show the corner you’ve turned.

“But there’s no excuses. It’s where the group are at and we as coaches and temporary coaches and stuff have to find a solution to put the team in the best places possible and believe me, we are trying our absolute nuts off and the players are trying too. There’s no hiding place from what happened today – we accept it all and as always, we have to learn, move on and try & prepare for the next one.”