MK Dons 1-3 Barnet: Dons Worried, Bees Happy
Credit: Gordon Bell
As a profoundly bald man, Paul Warne isn’t used to having to contend with a Barnet. That was more than evident this weekend as The Bees swarmed Stadium MK and pulled off one of the shocks of the season, running out 3-1 winners despite starting the day a whole twenty points below their hosts. They must have been buzzing. It’s a result that throws a spanner in the works for the Dons’ so far smooth-sailing promotion push, and one that keeps the glimmer of play-off hope alive in the eyes of the most optimistic Barnet supporters.
The hosts came into this weekend’s fixture unbeaten in League Two since they suffered defeat at the hands of Colchester on New Year’s Day, and they had a run of 14 league fixtures at Stadium MK without losing that stretched all the way back to the 20th of September. Barnet, 20 points behind the Dons and on a run of three games without a win, were tipped to not only lose, but potentially lose heavily. The Bees have previous, though. They’ve picked up more points on the road than they have at The Hive this season and are the 6th best away team in the division. MK were big favourites, but Barnet were always going to make it tricky.
Everything seemed to be progressing according to the script as Paul Warne’s side took the lead just 7 minutes into the game. A looping ball into the box looked to be a fairly routine catch for Bees ‘keeper Cieran Slicker, but he was dazzled by the glorious Milton Keynes sunshine. Blinded, he fumbled the ball and it dropped to the feet of an oh-so-grateful Jon Mellish to tap home his third goal of the season. They won’t come easier than that.
The first half continued to be all MK Dons, as they seemed to be stomping their way to another routine win. Their best chance came just past the half hour mark, but Slicker was saved from having to retrieve the ball from his net a second time by some heroic defending. Mellish again involved, he found Ben Wiles in ten miles of space following a brilliant fast break. His shot looked destined for the far corner before Nikola Tavares stepped in with a last-ditch sliding block to keep the deficit at just the one goal.
Slicker almost made amends for essentially throwing the ball into his own net as he hit a long ball forwards that dropped perfectly for Ryan Glover running in on goal late on in the first half. The touch on the way through to Glover had just enough weight on it to allow Dons’ goalie Craig MacGillivray time to close the gap between the forward and the goal, narrowing the angle and ultimately allowing him to stop the shot as Glover tried to flick the ball around the big Scotsman. The clean sheet was still intact, but the it was only a matter of time before the Bees’ finally stung the Dons’ defence.
Barnet centre half Danny Collinge spent his formative years in the MK Dons academy, but left to join Stuttgart before making a first team appearance. Now having returned to the UK and finding regular football for the Bees, he was back to haunt his former employers as the first half drew to a close. Five minutes into injury time, Mark Shelton bent a corner in towards the front post. Collinge was there to meet it, wrestling free from his marker and clipping a lovely header across goal that nestled into the far corner. 1-1 on the stroke of half time, and all of the hosts’ hard work was undone in an instant.
Things went from bad to worse for the Dons shortly after the restart, with another one of their academy products putting them to the sword just three minutes after kick-off. Kabongo Tshimanga has played just about everywhere you can think of in his career, at the ripe old age of 28 he has made first-team appearances for 15 clubs already, but it all started in Milton Keynes. Now, with his time as a Don almost a decade away in the rear-view mirror, he proved he still remembers where the nets are at Stadium MK with a lovely strike to earn his side the lead. Marvin Ekpiteta’s headed clearance could only find Ryan Glover, who charged forward with the ball. He slipped it through to Tshimanga on the edge of the box, who shaped up beautifully to bend the ball around the reach of MacGillivray and into the bottom corner. Fans had barely had time to sit back down with their hot dogs and it was already 2-1. There’s every chance that if you went for a pint just before half-time you might have missed both Barnet goals, not that there’s much of a queue at Stadium MK.
Just shy of ten minutes after taking the lead, the Bees doubled their advantage through Idris Kanu. Kanu spent no time in the MK Dons academy, unlike the goalscorers before him, but still managed to find the net with ease in front of the travelling fans. Kanu marched forwards with the ball and slipped in Tshimanga down the left. The goalscorer whipped in a low cross that was intercepted, but Kanu had followed it in and tapped home the rebound with ease. 3-1 to the visitors was entirely unprecedented, but a more than welcome surprise for the travelling faithful and fans of the teams chasing the Dons down for automatic promotion.
MK could have had themselves back in the game five minutes later if it wasn’t for Cieran Slicker atoning for his earlier error. The home side were awarded a penalty for a clumsy challenge, and up stepped Rushian Hepburn-Murphy. The former Villa academy star has 9 goals to his name so far this year, and was looking to his double figures for the second season running, and only the second time in his career. Slicker had other plans, blocking the weak penalty with his trailing leg as he dived low and keeping the score at 3-1.
Try as they might, MK Dons just couldn’t find a way through the Bees backline and Barnet ran out unlikely, but deserving, winners.
MK Dons entrusted promotion specialist Paul Warne with a healthy transfer kitty for this level in summer, and promotion simply has to be the bare minimum. Any place below first is almost a failure at this point, and missing out on automatic promotion would be disastrous. Warne sent his scouts far and wide to scour the world for the best footballing talent League Two money could buy. They came back with Nathaniel Mendez-Laing from Derby, Kane Wilson from Derby and Curtis Nelson from Derby. Well, he likes what he likes. The Dons are in 2nd, 5 points behind shock leaders Bromley and 4 clear of the play-offs and Notts County in 4th. Both 3rd placed Cambridge and Notts have a game in hand on the Dons, and if they both win it would leave MK in 3rd and just a point from dropping out of the automatic places. With tricky games against Salford and Bromley still to come, could we see a collapse for the ages at Stadium MK?
Barnet were promoted from the National League last season and, like many of their predecessors, have taken to the league with ease. Their results this weekend have them and fellow promoted side Oldham mathematically safe from the drop with plenty of games to spare, yet another stark example as to why we need three promotion places from non-league. The bottom two sides in League Two currently have a combined 2 points more than Barnet have accumulated, and just the 1 more than Oldham. Time for change. The Bees are down in 12th, with a 5 point gap to the play-off places. It might not be the points difference that stops them achieving the play-offs, but the sheer amount of traffic between them and Grimsby in 7th. With 3 of the top 4 left to play, if they do make it in it will certainly be on merit. Whatever happens, it’s been a fantastic season to be a Bee.
The business end of the season always throws up these big upsets, have the Dons got the bottle to correct the course and get back on track to a return to League One? And can Barnet use a big win as a springboard to help catapult them into the play-off spots at the last minute?