Another stupid kick off time, but a real six pointer at 2nd played 3rd. Winning would put us top, but only for a short period until Bromley play at the regular 3pm kick time!
Starting line up: Eastwood in goal, back 3 of, Watts, Jobe and Gibbons; Bennett, Brophy, Mpanzu, Ball, Knight in the middle, Kaikai and Appere up front.
As usual I missed the first few minutes, but was in the NRE when we won a couple of corners which came to nothing. First scare was soon after when Jobe failed to deal with a bouncing ball to let their forward go for goal but Eastwood made a good save.
Soon after MK had another chance with a good through ball to put their player free, but as Eastwood advanced the ball was put wide of our goal.
We had a chance when a weak clearance from a long throw fell for Ball, but his shot went well wide. Appere did well to get to the ball before it went out, cut it back to Brophy who was unable to get to the ball as he was felled. No penalty!
Half time: 0-0. 50/50m draw ticket 36897 won £603.
No personnel changes at half time, but U’s started the half attacking the NRE, and Watts tried a very long shot which the keeper had to palm over the bar. Instead of a corner for some reason the referee ordered the kick off to be retaken!
U’s were playing much better, and had a really good chance when a cross found Gibbons about 8 yards out, his powerful header downwards was well saved by their keeper.
Knight had a good run across the box looked as if he was fouled but no penalty. Appere had a shot go over. Appere had another good chance when put through for a run on goal, a defender pulled him back a little which was enough to slow Appere down and allow another defender time to get back and take the ball. No free kick. If Appere had gone down then the last defender should have been sent off.
Smith, Lavery and Nevitt came on after 65 minutes to replace Mpanzu, Knight and Kaikai. U’s continued to cause problems, Knight ran at the heart of their defence put the ball through for Nevitt to shoot, the keeper blocked, the ball fell for Knight to shoot and a defender blocked on the line but Lavery was in the right place to shoot home. 1-0 after 74 minutes.
MK replied by throwing people up front and caused some problems, East wood having to make a couple of good blocks.
Purrington and Raggett came on to replace Bennett and Knight with 10 minutes to go, and U’s looked to have weathered the storm. In added time there were chances to go for goal, but instead we took the ball into the corner to run the clock down. In the last minute of added time MK won a throw in mid way in their half in front of the Main Stand when it looked like we should have won a free kick. Their player took a long run up and launched the ball from in front of our dug-out so “stole” about 20 yards with what looked like a foul throw as one foot was off the ground. The ball went into our penalty area and as Raggett shielded the ball their player went down, and the referee gave a penalty, which Collins rolled in as Eastwood went the wrong way in the 6th minute of the 5 added time minutes. 1-1.
I would have liked to see Watts have another go for goal from the kick off, but the referee blew for time.
Final score: 1-1
We loved it when Knight scored a penalty in added time a few weeks ago, today the shoe was on the other foot. 6510 fans thought it wasn’t a penalty, 1028 in the away end thought it was! The foul on Knight earlier in the half was more of a penalty but not given.
The referee on the whole wasn’t too bad (penalty decisions aside!), although there was an occasion where he could have let play go on as we were breaking forward but chose to blow for a foul.
In truth the draw was probably a fair result, they had the better chances in the first half, the second half was more even. The 2 sides cancelled each other out for much of the game, they stopped our creative players getting any time on the ball. Occasionally we would find the right ball and caused them problems but until Lavery came on there was no cutting edge up front, and we didn’t work their keeper enough. He had to make 1 good save whereas Eastwood had to make 3 good saves and got the sponsors MoM award.
Our tactical substitutions gave us the lead, they then threw on more big forwards to put us under pressure at the back. Was time wasting/running the clock down at the end our best tactic?
So no “top of the league” this week, Bromley extended the point gap with a win at home to Accrington, who had a man sent off early in the game. We stay second, 2 points ahead of MK. U’s go to Accrington next weekend. Of the other teams near us in the table, Swindon drew at home to Bristol Rovers, Notts County lost at home to Grimsby.
Up the U’s