Macclesfield slipped to a second defeat in the opening three games after Danny Swailes' late own goal cost them a well-deserved draw.

The Silkmen started brightly and showed some good attacking promise with Swailes almost putting the home side ahead after only five minutes.  His powerful header rattled the crossbar from Kevin McIntyre's inswinging corner from the left with the keeper beaten.

Jamie Tolley, on his Macclesfield debut, teed up McIntyre moments later but his effort was parried by Adolfo Baines in the MK Dons goal.

At the other end, the visitors' first attack forced a brilliant save by Tommy Lee after Izale McLeod's shot on the turn looked to be heading into the roof of the net.  The ball fell to Clive Platt, but after turning to get a shot in, Jimmy McNulty was on hand to clear off the line.

Another dangerous McIntyre corner was only half cleared to Tolley after 18 minutes, but the rising half-volley from the former Shrewsbury man whistled just over the bar.

Gregorio seemed to lose his bearings on 30 minutes when he handled outside his box from a long ball forward towards Matty McNeil.  The keeper was booked and from the resulting free kick Tolley almost caught him off guard at his near post.

Much against the run of play, Milton Keynes Dons took the lead on 35 minutes through Clive Platt.  Tight skill on the right touchline by John Paul McGovern got him past McNulty and he played Leon Crooks into space down the right wing.  His drilled cross was met at the near post by the former Rochdale striker, who forced the ball into the corner despite Tommy Lee's desperate efforts to claw it away.

Jordan Hadfield attempted an ambitious 30 yard volley moments before the half time whistle as the ball sat up perfectly to hit, but although the keeper scrambled back onto his line it was always going too high.

At the break Macc could count themselves unlucky not to have scored and definitely shouldn't have been behind after a far better attacking performance than on Tuesday night.

The visitors came out for the second half hungry for another goal, and should have got one on 52 minutes when McLeod shrugged off Swailes to race clear on goal but he fired straight at Lee.

The Silkmen got a lifeline back into the game when referee Singh spotted shirt pulling by Ben Chorley on McNeil in the area from a corner and pointed to the spot to the bemusement of the MK Dons defence.  McIntyre stepped up and rolled it confidently into the bottom left corner sending the keeper the wrong way for Macclesfield's first league goal this season.

Only five minutes later the Moss Rose crowd thought Macc had taken the lead when Martin Bullock volleyed in from McNeil's header, but the referee disallowed the goal to give a free kick against the tall striker for pushing his man.

Towards the middle of the half the game started to get a bit scrappy and there were bookings for both sides.  Visiting boss Martin Allen was becoming increasingly frustrated with the referee and was lucky not to be sent to the stands after being reprimanded earlier in the game for arguing with the officials.

Colin Heath was introduced for Martin Bullock with 15 minutes remaining, the tricky winger hadn't seen too much of the ball all afternoon and Brian Horton later said that he had a sick bug and maybe should have came off at half time.

Marvin Robinson forced his way into the Dons box on 77 minutes but failed to pick out Heath, his pass instead fell to Tolley and his shot was blocked by Chorley for a corner.

The sucker punch came with only ten minutes remaining when substitute Scott Taylor's through ball looked for McLeod.Swailes tried to cut the pass out and get a foot in before it reached McLeod but could only send the ball past a stranded Tommy Lee and into the net for a disastrous own goal.

The heads of many of the Macclesfield players seemed to drop after the goal and there were few chances made to get back into the game.  MK Dons almost had a third in bizarre fashion with four minutes to go as Chorley tried to catch Lee off his line with an audacious 40 yard free kick.  Thankfully for the Silkmen, Lee was able to scamper back to his goal and push the ball clear from under his own crossbar.

Saturday's trip to Peterborough may feel a little more daunting now for Macc, who despite getting off the mark on the goals front, failed to make their chances count again and ended up paying the price.

Andrew Brinkhurst