Just got home from Stad Mk

What a wonderful first half performance but this was followed by a woeful start to the second half. It was obvious a very poor MK side were going to get a goal back and, sure enough, they did. The way we had reverted to "Sloppy Barnsley" suggested that we might even concede another but their finishing was as poor as their general play had been.

The Three Counties Radio calls after the match were all about how biased the ref had been, what a shocking decision it was to send off the "awesome" Alan Smith and how if they carried that tremendous performance (second half) into the rest of the season the play offs were a certainty.

Now, hang on a minute. We LET them dictate play for about twenty minutes or so during the immediate aftermath of Kelvin Etuhu's long injury hold up. Having been so far ahead of them in the first half we took the foot off the pedal and started making elementary mistakes. I don't really want to point the finger but I'm afraid a good number of those errors were in defence, down our right hand side. No names, etc..... Thankfully we rode the Third Division club's "storm" without too much difficulty and came back strong again to finish well on top.

I was only saying to my brother Ron just before kick off that it was about time Dagnall and Harewood scored so what happens? Two cracking goals in the first twenty minutes from the pair of them with Daggers notching a lovely second in injury time. He seemed to have taken it too wide but slotted it in expertly from an angle.

All in all a great afternoon out and a marvellous following at our end. The emotion at the end was incredible, as if we had won the cup not just seen off a poor Third Division outfit. Another win, another reason to be optimistic and let's hope for more on Tuesday night

Player comments:
Steele made at least one blinding save although it was straight above his head and he tipped it over. Other than that he was hardly troubled
Wiseman looked good in the first half but gave the ball away more than once in dangerous areas later on and unfortunately got the crowd on his back a bit as a result.
Cranie, Hassell and Kennedy hardly put a foot wrong the whole match although Bobby slipped up a couple of times second half before being subbed.
Golbourne got down the wing so often but he very rarely made anything of good opportunities. Solid in defence though.
Mellis - some sublime touches and some lazy ones. How does a 21-year old manage to look so unfit?
Etuhu - very impressed with him and such a sickener for him to get carried off. Hope he is not out for too long
Perkins - well, what can you say about the Human Dynamo. Hardly ever comes out of a tackle without the ball and sets play up brilliantly sometimes. Cracking display
Harewood and Dagnall - powerful performances first half from both and Daggers continued it to the end of the match. Brilliantly taken goals all three of them
Subs - Delap and O'Brien both did well when they came on, without doing anything spectacular.
Scotland was on for about twenty minutes too long! Calls for him to start were clearly well off the mark. He's a good player, no doubt, but lacking in fitness. He had a glorious chance to make it four goals in four but he tried to break the net instead of doing what Daggers did in the first half.

 

Thanks for that.

However, from watching the live TV stream on the internet, Delap was superb when he came on.

 

Only watched it on the computer but I 100% agree with everything you've said. Let's see if my brother, who went down says the same when he gets back

 

You may well be right - different angle on things from behind the goal of course. Great player to have in the squad, no doubt

 

Did smith get 2 yellows? Because the first one, where he elbowed Wiseman was the worst. He could have easily been sent off for that one. The one on Delap was sly but deliberate, the referee did well to spot it. From what I saw, they certainly had the rub of the green in terms of decisions. But I must say I saw very little, R lass' internet connection isn't the best.

 

I listened to it on 5live sports extra and I was surprised how complementary they were about Wiseman given the stick he gets on here.

 

Not long back myself, have to agree, when kelvin went off injured we let them back into the game. Just shows what a massive influence he was in the first half . Mellis sauntered about far too often today without pressing their midfield. This was massively exposed after kelvin went off . A better team would have surely equalised today and we got off the hook cos they weren't good enough in front of goal second half. Wiseman pissed about in possession too often second half instead of banging it down the line like he should've been doing, but we managed to not be punished from it. Alan smith=dirty tw@t, just that! A well deserved red IMHO! All in all another great victory but let's hope kelvins back for Tuesday night as we looked decidedly average in the middle with him off the pitch against an average lge 1 side, another win though so I'm more than happy, you reds!!

 

Smith's was a straight red, elbow to the ribs straight in front of the ref, he had a clear view of it. And quite how the MK fans can say the ref was biased in our favour is beyond me. They were a nasty, dirty team - plenty of elbows flying around all game, quite how they didn't have a men red carded when Mellis (I think) got one in the throat in the first half, just outside their area I don't know, the ref didn't even give a free kick!

 

According to their manager the ref couldn't wait to send him off! He brandished the red card as quickly as he possibly could and there was such a melee going on in the middle of it all that it was hard to see what actually happened. I thought he had got a yellow but then saw him heading for the tunnel to the sound of the obligatory home applause for a wounded home hero. I'm not sure he did get a yellow for the other incident - it was just a typically sly, nasty Alan Smith performance. He doesn't play any other way

 

Maybe their manager wants to look at the rest of the game, like Smith's constant backing in, he got a free kick on one which we did same a bit later and MK got the free kick!

Baffles me how that dirty, cheating team can complain about the ref!