GOALKEEPER David Martin stood between Town and three points at Stadium:MK.

While Town have now not lost in 34 league games – a record outside the top flight in England – and they remain in third place in League I, no doubt manager Lee Clark would have preferred a win that would have kept the pressure right on leading pair Charlton Athletic and Sheffield United.

Martin was the home hero as he saved Lee Novak’s penalty four minutes from time as the contest came to a chaotic and controversial end.

Novak, with seven goals this season, seemed the perfect choice to tie up a 2-1 victory for the visitors but his effort lacked power and Martin got down well to save, after a stunning bust up that had seen the Dons reduced to ten men as defender Gary McKenzie was sent from the field by referee Chris Foy after tangling with Town striker Alan Lee.

They say there are two sides to every story and certainly there was a fair amount of disagreement in the two camps as to what had happened.

Dons boss Karl Robinson thought McKenzie had been fouled and then man-handled by Lee before reacting, while Town boss Clark said that in his mind the referee’s assistant had given a foul on Lee before the melee and so it was a straightforward penalty award.

In the end all that mattered was that Town failed to take their opportunity from 12 yards and, as was the case at Oldham just a fortnight before, they were unable to kill off depleted opponents in the dying minutes.

However, the closing stages of the contest were in stark contrast to the rest of a match that saw both sides enjoy periods of control while producing some top quality and entertaining football.

The Dons started brightly as Shaun Mitchell forced a good save from Ian Bennett in the Town goal after just three minutes, but the visitors heeded the early warning and steadily took control of possession and began to dictate the pattern of the play.

The tide had already turned distinctly by the 11th minute when a great pass from Jack Hunt from the right flank found Danny Ward and he thumped a cracking 25 yard drive beyond Martin’s clutches only for the ball to smack against the bar.

Eight minutes later and it was again Hunt the provider for Ward and this time he cut in before seeing his effort deflect for a corner and Ward just kept the pressure coming as he then fired narrowly off target on 25 minutes.