MK Dons 4-1 Town – A dominant Dons display proves too much for Town

Town suffered a 4-1 defeat to the high-flying MK Dons as the hosts ramped up the heat in the second half.

A Tobias Brenan strike was quickly cancelled out and punished by four different goalscorers as MK Dons took all three points at Stadium MK.

Harrogate came into this game off the back of a five-game unbeaten streak (2W, 3D), while MK Dons are in equally fine form, on an unbeaten run of nine games and sitting pretty in the automatic places.

The match began being played at a fast tempo with Town very much on the front foot as Jack Evans interchanged neatly with Reece Smith before testing the hands of MacGillivray for the first time on the day. But his effort didn’t have the power to beat the MK goalkeeper.

As for MK Dons, they weren’t short of chances themselves in the opening quarter of an hour as Mellish connected well with a header which asked a lot of the defender, and as a result never troubled Gray.

Heading into this one, League Two defences have been made very aware of the threat Hepburn-Murphy possesses when flying forward and Town got a taste of that in the 11^th minute as the forward’s pace was well matched by Headman who was wise to the danger.

On 25 minutes, the deadlock was broken as Evans again found himself in the final third and tested the hands of MacGillivray who couldn’t help but parry the ball into the path of Brenan who made no mistake from 6 yards out.

It didn’t take the hosts long however, to level the scoring through Hepburn-Murphy. Four minutes after taking the lead, The Dons’ danger man showed off his tricky feet inside the 18-yard box to carve out an opportunity for himself and unleash a powerful strike low into the centre of the goal.

There was not much to shout about in terms of chances in the latter stages of the first half other than in additional time as Luke Offord was on the end of an outswinging corner at the near post to fire MK into the lead heading into the interval.

Town came fast out the blocks looking to draw level and on 49 minutes Duke-McKenna led a quick counter attack before threading a ball into the patch of Smith who worked a yard of space and was unlucky not to score as MacGillivray pulled off a shrewd stop with his feet.

Seven minutes into the second 45, MK extended their via Collins who was sharp to evade a challenge from Gibson, before cutting inside and curling a left-footed effort into the far corner from a narrow angle.

From then, the home side expressed their confidence and added a fourth in the 63^rd minute as Wiles made a run from deep and was picked out with a pinpoint delivery to notch home from close range.

On 67 minutes Simon Weaver turned to the bench and introduced Faulkner and Bennett as well as a rotation in net as Waller entered the fray in replace of the injured Gray.

From there on in, it was one way traffic in favour of the home side, with the last notable action of the match falling to the substitute Jones in the 87^th minute who had a golden opportunity to make further inroads to the scoreline, but Waller made a fine stop at his near post.

MK Dons: MacGilivray, Crowley (60 Kelly), Gilbey, Collins (81 Leko), Offord (73 Tomlinson), Nemane (60 Jones), Ekpiteta, Mellish, Wiles, Hepburn-Murphy (46 Hogan), Sanders

Subs not used: Trueman, Lemonheigh-Evans

Harrogate Town: Gray (70 Waller), Slater, Evans, Morris, Duke-McKenna (81 Thomson), Acquah (67 Bennett), Headman, Smith, Gibson (67 Faulkner), Heffernan, Brenan (80 Sutton)

Subs not used: Burrell, Horton

Booked: Sanders

Referee: A. Chilowicz