Anton Walkes: Portsmouth defeat at MK Dons hard to take

The Blues’ momentum after wins over promotion-chasing Ipswich and Wycombe was curtailed with a 3-1 loss at Stadium MK.

Despite Kenny Jackett’s men dominating the early stages, they were hit with a sucker-punch when Rhys Healey opened the scoring in the 35th minute before Conor McGrandles doubled the hosts’ lead seven minutes later.

And Russell Martin's side wrapped up the three points through Alex Gilbey’s late strike.

Walkes felt the Dons were ripe for the taking after Pompey’s previous two wins.

But the full-back stressed the Blues must not let such a loss happen again.

He said: ‘It is a hard one to take, especially after the past two games we’ve had when beating opponents above us.

‘Coming here, not to downplay MK Dons, but we thought it was a great place to come to with a bit of momentum.

‘We thought we should be leaving with the three points, but clearly football doesn’t work out like that.

‘We need to look back on it and make sure things like that don’t happen again.’