Ten-man Pools lost out 3-1 to Roberto Di Matteo's MK Dons side this afternoon as Danny Wilson's men were left to rue a controversial decision by referee Mr Swarbrick.
Sam Collins' sending off turned the game on its head in the first half and, although Pools grabbed one goal back to give themselves a chance, there was no way back and the visitors took all three points from the clash.
The first half here at The Vic was certainly eventful if only for the wrong reasons for Pools.
Wilson's men edged the opening of the game, with several strong chances on goal - Joel Porter looked lively alongside Kevin Kyle and the big loan striker looked in the mood to cause problems himself.
Good work by Porter down the right saw the striker break the offside trap to whip a cross in the to the box but the ball found Kyle stretching and he met the ball too late.
Michael Nelson rose highest to nod a header in on goal from a Ritchie Jones corner kick but Willy Gueret collected on the line. James Brown did well to force his way through into the box to poke a ball on for Porter but he saw his strike across the face of goal scrape just wide of the far post.
With further chances for Jones and Kyle, Pools looked the most likely to open the scoring this afternoon - that was, however, until the 26th minute of the game.
With the visitors having spent little time in the final third in the early part of the game, the Pools defence were on alert when Jemal Johnson robbed Collins midway inside the Pools half.
As Johnson tried to push forward, he was challenged for possession by Sam Collins and the official blew his whistke - referee Mr Swarbrick then proceeded to show the Pools' skipper a straight red card for the tackle, which was clumsy at worst, much to the outrage of the home players and supporters alike.
The resulting free kick found Sean O'Hanlon in space but Pools' stopper Arran Lee-Barrett did brilliantly to claw the shot over the bar and save Pools from further upset.
MK Dons used their man advantage to take hold of the game and went on to put real pressure on Lee-Barrett's goal; chances for Johnson kept the Pools' keeper on his toes as the visitors looked for the opening goal.
And it came for Roberto Di Matteo's side in the 37th minute; Dean Lewington picked up possession just outside of the area to fire a stunning right-footed curling effort which left Lee-Barrett with no chance as it nestled into the top left hand corner of his goal.
Two minutes later and things got worse for Wilson's men when Johnson jinked his way into the box to lay a ball across the face of goal where it found Mark Wright in space to tap it home, doubling MK Dons' lead.
Pools enjoyed increased possession as the half came to a close but with a 2-0 deficit and having been reduced to ten men, they faced one of their biggest tasks in the second period to try and get something from this game.
As is typical of Pools this season, they came out defiant despite the mountain they had to climb and grabbed a goal back within 25 seconds of the re-start.
A great ball by Nelson in to Kyle down the right saw the big striker fire a testing ball right across the face of goal and, with James Brown waiting to pounce behind him, Dons' defender Sean O'Hanlon fired the ball high into his own net to make it 2-1.
And Pools continued to show the right kind of determination as they looked to battle their way back into the game - Matty Robson, introduced at half time proved a strong asset on the left for Pools and was a thorn in the side for the visitors.
There were chances for Antony Sweeney who fired in on goal and Kevin Kyle executed an impressive overhead volley on goal but both saw their efforts go high and off target.
At the other end, MK Dons refused to roll over and Lee-Barrett collected well from Wright before Jason Puncheon saw his low drive edge just wide of the far post.
Pools had the ball in the back of the net late into injury time but Ben Clark's effort was ruled out for offside.
Despite being a man down in this second half, Pools worked hard to hold their own against the eleven men of MK Dons but despite the effort there was to be no last-gasp comeback this afternoon as MK Dons snatched a late third goal in injury time when Daniel Powell hit home to make it 3-1.
While there will be much debate after this game about the sending off of Sam Collins, Pools must quickly turn their attentions to Tuesday night's FA Cup First Round Replay with Brighton & Hove Albion at The Vic.
Pools: Lee-Barrett, Sweeney (Foley 86), Nelson, Collins, Humphreys, Brown, Jones, Clark, Monkhouse (Robson 46), Porter (Liddle 46), Kyle
Subs Not Used: Budtz, Mackay
MK Dons: Gueret, Lewington, Llera, O'Hanlon, Wright, Johnson (Powell 83), Puncheon, Cummings, Gerba (Abraham 69), Navarro, Leven
Subs Not Used: Price, Belson, N'Gala
