MK Dons (H)

[Chadderton]

 

A big thanks to whoever found my wife's phone after the match and handed it in x

[Johnnyrotten]

25 minutes ago, Mounts Kipper said:

Think Sheehan will be great for us but never MOM today. He will get better though. 

Agreed.  A lot of calls that Sheehan was MOM but he can be far better than today, outmuscled quite a bit, including for their 3rd goal, and didn't get into the game before his goal, only played well in patches.  Like Dapo, he'll be great for us at this level but today they weren't at their best and MKD were often stronger and quicker than us in midfield.

[ianofcleveleys]

30 minutes ago, Mounts Kipper said:

Think Sheehan will be great for us but never MOM today. He will get better though. 

Took him a while to be able to get on the ball in threatening areas, goal did him good, more influential second half as more space became available. Some nice turns, bursts, touches and passes then. 

 

[embankment]

Well , absolutely loved it.

Obviously very disappointed with the 3 goals we helped them to score.

Bit overall a decent gritty performance.  Remember we have stepped up a league. 

As everyone has said , support from the stands was unbelievable. 

Don't know why Eisa started making gangster  signs to the fans after he finished celebrating. Can put up with him cupping his lug holes . But  to start flapping his digits like that is a disgrace.

Honestly felt we should have had a free kick prior to their 3rd.

The celebrations for the equaliser were fantastic. 

Moan now -

The hotel need to get their act together. 

Yes I know it was the first game and there was a wedding on . ( official photographer was fit as ) but to stop fans going in after the match ( we waited 45mins ) without proper explanation was wrong.

The queue for beers before the game was bad enough,  Ash waited nearly an hour.

I have been in there with 21070 on the gate and not had to wait like that.

Back to the game . More positives than negatives.

 

 

 

[Biggish Dave]

5 minutes ago, embankment said:

Well , absolutely loved it.

Obviously very disappointed with the 3 goals we helped them to score.

Bit overall a decent gritty performance.  Remember we have stepped up a league. 

As everyone has said , support from the stands was unbelievable. 

Don't know why Eisa started making gangster  signs to the fans after he finished celebrating. Can put up with him cupping his lug holes . But  to start flapping his digits like that is a disgrace.

Honestly felt we should have had a free kick prior to their 3rd.

The celebrations for the equaliser were fantastic. 

Moan now -

The hotel need to get their act together. 

Yes I know it was the first game and there was a wedding on . ( official photographer was fit as ) but to stop fans going in after the match ( we waited 45mins ) without proper explanation was wrong.

The queue for beers before the game was bad enough,  Ash waited nearly an hour.

I have been in there with 21070 on the gate and not had to wait like that.

Back to the game . More positives than negatives.

 

 

 

Think it's going to take patience from every boozing hole until they get staffing right.

Let's see what next week brings. The Fishmonger got it all sorted?

[masi 51]

Thank you for last season Gilkes............Father time has caught up

Midfield we was a yard off the pace first half...Robson ran the show for them

Bakayoko was Brilliant in the attacking half and a liability defensively

Defending corners we need both Dapo and Bakayoko on either side of the halfway line and a release

 

Overall i enjoyed the game and see us getting better

Evatt will sort it

[Johnnyrotten]

That was Doyle's first game above league 2 for 5 years. and they were championship games for Cardiff and PNE.  His first game in league one since playing for Chesterfield 7 years ago.  

[Cheese]

25 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Thank you for last season Gilkes............Father time has caught up

First game of the season, and you've already made your mind up. Amazing.

[HMSPisstheLeagu]

First game of the season and he's let in three soft goals.

[Domcarey1]

It’s been a long time away & I soaked in every minute. By god it’s great to be back.

Bakayoko is a defenders worst nightmare and is a belting signing. 
Doyle looked off the pace and should have come off earlier………..

Excited for what this season may bring……..

[Traf]

I was just happy to be back in a ground for a league game / happy to see so many fellow fans turn out in shite weather / happy to see us earn a point against a team who'll be a good benchmark of where we're at / happy to see the team battling to the last kick of the game.

Yeah, we could have won, but we could have lost.
Yeah, xyz should have done better 

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Just great to be back right now.

[embankment]

7 hours ago, Biggish Dave said:

 

Let's see what next week brings. The Fishmonger got it all sorted?

Of course 

[matty2094]

9 hours ago, L/H White said:

ESL. 3 staff, 2 on tills, 1 pouring pints

when did they stop showing the game on the tvs to

A covid thing in an attempt to stop fans gathering on the concourse for too long apparently 

[masi 51]

8 hours ago, Cheese said:

First game of the season, and you've already made your mind up. Amazing.

Yes i have

Dixon is the future....but it is a step to far now for Gilkes his reactions have gone

you cannot beat father time, play him in the papa john lge cup what ever they are calling him this season but Dixon needs to get that number 1 spot as soon as

Gilkes can coach Dixon to be as good as he is communicating with his defence

[RUREADY2ROLL]

Took nearly 5 hours driving up from Worcestershire yesterday coupled with that awful weather; stupid me put trainers on that let water in and feet we’re soaking. But still enjoyed the day at my first day at a home game since Peterborough promotion game. Can’t wait to get my hands on a Wimbledon ticket now and will enjoy this season regardless of how we do. Regarding the game I thought a draw was about right but we gave away three soft goals and with a little more composure could have scored more; officials were shit.

[RUREADY2ROLL]

16 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Yes i have

Dixon is the future....but it is a step to far now for Gilkes his reactions have gone

you cannot beat father time, play him in the papa john lge cup what ever they are calling him this season but Dixon needs to get that number 1 spot as soon as

Gilkes can coach Dixon to be as good as he is communicating with his defence

Can’t rule him out after one game; I thought he should have done better with the first two but it’s the first game FFS and we missed Santos 

[Whitesince63]

33 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Yes i have

Dixon is the future....but it is a step to far now for Gilkes his reactions have gone

you cannot beat father time, play him in the papa john lge cup what ever they are calling him this season but Dixon needs to get that number 1 spot as soon as

Gilkes can coach Dixon to be as good as he is communicating with his defence

I agree Masi, I think last year was Gilli’s swan song but his reactions have just ebbed a but more and we’ve moved up a level. He’s a brilliant back up to have and still a crucial member of the squad but I think it’s time to give Dixon his chance now.

Edited August 8, 2021 by Whitesince63

[RONNIE PHILLIPS]

It's just a pleasure now to enjoy watching matches instead of them constantly ruining a good day out. 

[marple whites]

Well what a return and roller coaster of emotions.  A draw was probably fair as they were a decent side.

lots of positives, bit nieve at times, but so good to be back and the celebrations for our second and third goals were just amazing.

only down side was not being able to get in the hotel and having to go in the ground for a crappy pint.

[masi 51]

27 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

I agree Masi, I think last year was Gilli’s swan song but his reactions have just ebbed a but more and we’ve moved up a level. He’s a brilliant back up to have and still a crucial member of the squad but I think it’s time to give Dixon his chance now.

agreed a good back up and he will have earned his coaching money if he can improve Dixons communication skills

Others are saying you cannot write him off.........nobody are

Its Evatts and Gilkes call, and they will be the two who know when the times right

[MickyD]

Interesting read from a MK Dons perspective.

THE MELTDOWN – BOLTON WANDERERS
7 days on and thankfully it was back to the bread & butter stuff of League football after one of the worst weeks in the history of the Dons.

Basically, whatever could have gone wrong went wrong in the last week or so, the Snake slithered away to Wales and took everything and everyone with him, leaving us without any staff. The total cock up of the Spurs game was still very much a talking point, but I’m pleased to say the club have held their hands up and taken on the invitation of the MKDSA to try and make sure nothing like that ever happens again, and we will be working with the club closely to hopefully rectify and iron out all those errors. I am really pleased that the club took the criticism on the chin, it would have been easy to come out with loads of excuses, but they didn’t and fair play to them for that.

The ticketing mess of Bournemouth really didn’t help the situation, but it looks like everyone one way, or another got in, I’m pretty sure that won’t happen again…...well I hope not.

So now we move on, “Together as One” as we like to say at the MKDSA, we must put all that behind us now and move forward and we have a big test on and off the field on Saturday against the Black Cats.

On Saturday the day didn’t have the best start to it, the M6 was a mess, so fearing the M6 Toll would be snarled as well up we headed up the M1 to try our luck on the A50. Unfortunately, nearly all the traffic heading north had the same idea and the Matrix boards advising people to take this diversion didn’t help matters either, so we stayed with it and made our way across the M62 and the Pennine route. As it happens it was a bit quicker if not a longer trek to Bolton and in some bloody awful conditions as it was bucketing down, but we got there well ahead of kick off.

I must mention I didn’t really feel confident of the result on the long drive up, Bolton buoyed by their promotion and the news that Big Dave was out, plus the “Fish” was still injured, did little to encourage me to think we could get a result…I was though pleasantly surprised.

I should mention I did feel slightly sad for Lewie, he cut a lonely figure in the centre of the park as the lads were warming up with hardly any support staff, but as much as he says he doesn’t want the job, I did think I detected in his body language that he was very proud, he even stood in a managerial type of stance with his arms behind him looking on at the team with an admiring glance.

I was really pleased that Mo opened his account at the first time of asking, and despite being backed by a noisy 16,000 home crowd, I didn’t think we looked overawed or anything close, if anything we were knocking it about well and were well in the hunt.

At the back though we did look a bit fragile, unsure and it reminded me of those early days of playing the “MK Way” when you felt like hiding behind the sofa. Walker in goal seemed hell bent on giving them a golden opportunity to score, and at least twice played us into desperate trouble, thankfully one of our players got back to deny them pulling the trigger, but it was at times very unnerving with some real heart stopping moments. I’ve seen enough of Walker & Franco now, so the sooner “Fish” is back the better, its just an accident waiting to happen.

The freekick from Twine was superb and completely deceived the rotund Gilks in the Bolton net who stood flat footed it and admired it with the rest of us, and you have to say its nice we have a few capable of putting in a decent freekick although I did get a bit frustrated when we had engineered a shooting opportunity only for an additional pass or two seeming a better option, so I’d certainly like to see us pulling the trigger more often.

The goal from Boateng was written in the stars, it was only on Monday when Boateng was handed the No 18 jersey after all the evidence suggested there was a rift between him and the Snake. To Boateng’s credit he had hung about, trained like a pro and played well in the PSF’s, so if it was at Lewie's insistence, fair play to him, I’m no great fan of Boateng, but to score just two minutes after coming on shows great credit to him and to Lewie for giving him the chance. 

What did impress me was the way we celebrated the goal, it was carnage in the away end, with arms, legs and bodies flying everywhere, two seats were unintentionally damaged, and I understand a bit of claret was spilt as people got knocked over in the total madness, all accidental, but never good to hear when one or two of the family sustain injuries when celebrating. But it wasn’t just the fans it was the players, to a man they all ran to the bench in an act of togetherness that shows how much we have grown and bonded in just a week, unity in adversity and all that.

Normally conceding a goal late on to give up the points feels like a defeat, yes it was gutting, but I didn’t feel like that, I’d have taken that point all day long on the way up, so I’m not changing my mind now. The point gained is just a small part of this, to a degree we may be rudderless, but there is something about this group of players, they feel they have been wronged, and that feeling will hopefully carry them a long way.

One or two things that deserve a mention, and in no particular order, there looked to be a challenge worthy of a red card for me, and judging by the reaction of both sets of players they thought so to, although I note the Bolton Twitter feed described it as an “alleged foul”, that shows a total lack of class from the Bolton media team, and they may be better off moving to Swansea, they know all about that sort of behaviour in the valleys.

That incident, plus Troy Parrott having a shot cleared off the line may have changed the complexion of this game, fine margins indeed.

Off the field we need a manager and just as importantly a back-room staff urgently, I agree we have to get it right when securing a new gaffer, and that’s never easy as we know, but there is only so much this skeleton staff can do, everybody is mucking in and helping out, Fish on Saturday helped out to prep the keepers and could be seen talking to Walker as the players walked off at halftime, and I’ve no doubt there are similar stories around the club, but they can only do so much, and it is concerning that we cant even boast so much as a sports analyst in our ranks.

How good or bad this result is will take a fair bit of time to work out, but I would suggest that Bolton are going to be dark horses for a playoff spot, who knows but they don’t look a bad side and one or two pundits were tipping them as decent outsiders, in the coming weeks and months all will become clearer.

There is no good time to play the Black Cats, and we probably would have liked a gentler introduction to the new season, but it is what it is, and we must deal with it next Saturday, hopefully we will have a new manager by then, but one thing we shouldn’t doubt, whoever comes in will have a good set of players to work with, I just hope they don’t try fitting square pegs in round holes

[Max Cherry]

Great day and now folk who actually went to the game have had chance to have their say the positivity is well and truly here. Fantastic to have football back and Fantastic to have our club back. 

[Rudy]

Great to be back, when the lads came out it was deafening 

MJ doesn’t look fit to be me, and Doyle certainly doesn’t 

Id expect Gilks to do better with all three goals, his distribution was good though 

Sheehan looks a class above 

Kachunga looked tidy when he came on

MOM for me was the big man Bakayoko, every touch came off, rarely lost the ball, worked his bollocks off , and scored. Brilliant debut.

[Francis Fogarty]

12 hours ago, HMSPisstheLeagu said:

First game of the season and he's let in three soft goals.

He kept us in games last season. We'd still be in L2 without him.

He didn't have both his last seasons stoppers in front of him today and had 16,000 fans blocking his booming voice out. He's not one for the future, but let's not get the bedsheets out just yet.

Edited August 8, 2021 by Francis Fogarty
rushed into print.

[woolli]

25 minutes ago, Rudy said:

Great to be back, when the lads came out it was deafening 

MJ doesn’t look fit to be me, and Doyle certainly doesn’t 

Id expect Gilks to do better with all three goals, his distribution was good though 

Sheehan looks a class above 

Kachunga looked tidy when he came on

MOM for me was the big man Bakayoko, every touch came off, rarely lost the ball, worked his bollocks off , and scored. Brilliant debut.

I agree regarding MJ. half, way off the pace, and on another day, could have been sent off. Sheehan finds fantastic space, and looked really promising. Bakayoko, great going forward, defensively is where his problem lies. Poor tackle to give away the free kick for the 2nd, and just looks an accident waiting to happen!