Defeat to MK Dons dents Southend's play-off ambitions

Southend's push for the Sky Bet League One play-offs was dented by a 2-1 defeat against MK Dons at Roots Hall.The seventh-placed Shrimpers had been hoping to move up into the top six with a win.But two Dons goals in nine minutes at the start of the second half saw Phil Brown's side suffer a costly setback.MK Dons came closest to scoring in the first 45 minutes when Harvey Barnes' effort was cleared off the goal-line by a sliding Jason Demetriou.However, the Dons broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute with centre-back Joe Walsh heading home a right-wing corner from Ben Reeves.Southend almost netted an immediate equaliser with Anthony Wordsworth curling a 25 yard free-kick against the outside of the left post.But Dons doubled their lead in the 62nd minute with former Shrimpers loanee Reeves firing home after Christian Walton had parried a shot from Kieran Agard.Walton then did well to deny both Agard and Barnes before Southend rallied late on with Anton Ferdinand hitting the post and Simon Cox netting an injury-time penalty after Marc-Antoine Fortune had been brought down by George Baldock.