ON THIS DAY – MARCH 28, 2005

CHERRIES wasted a glorious chance to cement a League One play-off place when they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Milton Keynes Dons.

Sean O’Driscoll’s side were sentenced to a third successive home reverse when Aussie midfielder Gareth Edds popped up to score the only goal of the game in the second half.

Earlier, Garreth O’Connor had seen his first-half penalty superbly kept out by Dons goalkeeper Matt Baker.

Boss O’Driscoll said he thought Cherries had “deserved to win” and described Baker as the “man of the match”.

He added his injury-hit side had “probed and probed and probed and just couldn’t get the ball over the line”.

He also felt Cherries had “dominated the second half” and said Baker had made “some saves at crucial times” before his side had been beaten by what he described as a “suckerpunch”

Defeat left Cherries sixth in League One.

Cherries: Moss, Young, Howe (Stock, 87), Simek, Green (Connell, 81), Elliott, Browning, Spicer, G O’Connor (Rodrigues, 87), Hayter, Fletcher. Unused subs: Purches, Stewart (g/k).

Referee: Andy Hall (Birmingham).

Attendance: 7,064.