Robinson: We were lucky

Karl Robinson admits MK Dons rode their luck while earning a 0-0 draw at home to Sky Bet League One table-toppers Bristol City.

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was the main threat for the Robins, seeing good efforts saved by David Martin in either half, while striker Matt Smith had a penalty appeal turned down. And even after seeing his own late penalty shout denied - when Samir Carruthers' shot seemed to hit the arm of City's Luke Ayling - Robinson was thankful for a point. "I thought we rode our luck a little bit by trying to man-handle Matt Smith, because we tried to compete with him in a different way," said Robinson. "At times we rode our luck, but when you watch that penalty (appeal) in the second half and pause it at the time of when he saved it - he's at full stretch and he's gone to ground and extended his right arm. "They got that wrong, and the referee conducted himself very well after the game because he was very open and honest with me. "If we're being honest nobody really deserved to win. I thought we were magnificent in the first half, but in that second half I thought they pressed us more and made it a little bit more difficult for us and we were forced a little bit too deep. "There was two really, really good teams who both deserve a lot of respect." The result saw the Dons slip down to third in the table, while City remain top - a point ahead of second-placed Swindon. And despite failing to secure a sixth consecutive victory in League One, Robins boss Steve Cotterill was happy. "I'm really satisfied with our performance and I thought it was always going to be a tight game - I didn't think there was going to be a lot of goals in it for some reason or another," he said. "I think we should have had an absolute nailed on penalty in the first half on Matt Smith, and they will probably claim they should have had that penalty too. "But all in all I suppose a draw was a fair result. I don't think either was looking to cancel each other out, but there was a lot of hard work and endeavour showed by both teams. "I don't think they could have attacked anymore, and neither could we because it was such a tight game. "I thought both teams defended very well, but I still think we could have nicked it. "I felt that there was a few aspects of the game we should have been better at, and we changed that in the second half."