Just got home and still buzzing from that!!! Wow!
Lets get it out of the way, the first half was abysmal! Absolutely out played and the tactics were completely wrong
A huge pitch at Stadium MK and they were playing nice wide football, slipping it out to the wingers who were 9/10 times completely free.
Rovers were very narrow and deep, the midfield over ran by the excellent lad they had (he played very well all game i think he was called Reeves)
Lots of frustration from the fans as Matty T took a while to get into the game, played very wide left of the front 2, although it was really only a 1 up top, he rarely tracked back to help out Browner leaving us very exposed. However the same was happening on the right hand side with whoever was supposed to be the right sided midfield was non-existent too!
Cant complain too with Matty he just cant play that position
Dons should have been 3 or 4 up easily at the break.
They had several chances go just wide and hit the crossbar with a cracking shot
A combination of Roos and the defence at fault for the first goal
The Shot should have been closed down quicker, Roos spilled it straight to Bowditch who had a simple tap in. But dont blame it on Roos too much as where were the defenders following in the shot? No where to be seen and 2 MK Dons strikers were waiting for the tap in
Second goal was a deep cross to the back post and Browner just didnt jump, dont know if he was wrong footed or didnt realise he had a man behind him. But the header looped back across the goal and in off the far post. Not really too much Roos could have done
Second half I text my dad to say maybe Wael should get on the blower to get DC to give em a proper rocket up their @rses as the fisrt half was a shambles (I was sat 4-5 seats along from Wael and Will Dubey amongst others)
Second half Matty was back up top in a front two, the innefectual Bodin subsituted for Colkett (no huge fault for Bodin, he just could not get into the game with the tactics we set out with)
We came out with a bang and a cracking goal from Matty T gave us some hope!
But MK Dons dug deep, kept the ball a little more and a great individual run from their lad and he slots the ball in for 3-1
A few people left with about 15 mins to go, more fool them! Do they not know our record of late goals?!!
Ellis was trying hard but he was being wound up no end by their two centre backs and it clearly got to him. A silly fould for a yellow card and i thought he needed to be careful.
Indeed i was proven right when he went through another player for a foul, the ref came steaming over and i thought "Uh-Oh" bye bye Ellis. However the ref saw who had fouled and bottled it! No booking and DC immediately brought Gaffney on so we wouldnt end up with 10 men....
Well done Ellis though, he battled hard. Not the best game i've seen him play but tried his best, he's come a long way since DC took over.
Gaffers came on and ran his socks off! 110% effort and he really threw the Dons defenders, causing lots of trouble and winning the ball
Up steps the wonderful Matty T to make it 3-2 with just 3 mins to go and i thought here we go!
Good play from Monty, who caused trouble as soon as he came on and he slotted it back to Taylor who was possibly offside if it werent that the ball was played backwards so the goal stood
*Edit - I stand corrected it was Clarke-Salter running through that slotted it back to Matty for his second.
Gaffney caused more problems with his physical strength and direct approach. A cross came in and he challenged the goalie with his arm leading, from where i was stood clearly trying to punch the ball. The ref and linesman (the linesman was flippin useless by the way!) didnt spot it and we won the corner that led to the 3rd and equalising goal.
Clearly a change in tactics in the second half with more width and physical direct play really caused the Dons problems and got us the point
Dons had a couple of chances very late on in the 5 mins of added time, a corner and a free kick which they squandered
jeers and cheers from the Rovers fans saw out the final few minutes to ensure we got a point. Was laughing to myself when the dons were singing (albeit very quietly) how sh!t must you be if we win at home (they have a very poor home record)
Again a dissapointing performance in the veiw we conceded 3 goals and were all over the shop in the first half, but we cannot discredit the team spirit and battling that saw us through to get a point. Even then we didnt stop when we had a chance to go for the win we did.
Overall i was very downbeat at half time, it looked like we'd be on the end of a drubbing. MK Dons finally turning around their poor home form at the hands of the gas.
However a quick early goal in the second half gave us a glimmer of hope and the never say die attitude finally dug in and we got the point.
Shame the dons dont have any fans as the stadium is fantastic. Good stewarding, easy access, decent enough snacks/drinks etc. Just no atmosphere with only 8,000 in a 30,000 seater stadium.
We made plenty of noise in the away end when things were going well. But when you can hear the players shouting you know the atmosphere is poor!
The scenes for the Matty's 3rd were incredible! and we found our voice again.
Glad i went now as was contemplating staying at home, even more so at half time!
UTG win our game in hand and things are looking very rosy indeed!
Who's have thought when we were losing to Altrincham 2 seasons ago we'd now be pushing in League 1 with a decent owner and fantastic manager and team
UTG i must really get to more games this season! (I live about an hour east of Milton Keynes)
