1st March 2025
MK Dons vs Colchester United @ Stadium MK - Milton Keynes
EFL League Two
15:00 KO
£20 entry
Attendance - 8,002 (1,330 away fans)
Half-time score: MK Dons 0-0 Colchester United
Goal:
Colchester United: Payne - 87'(P)
Brief match highlights are on YouTube, see link below:
Final Score: MK Dons 0-1 Colchester United
Today the U's travelled to MK Dons, which is currently one of their nearest away days in the north western heavy EFL League 2 this season. As such a big away day crowd was expected as the momentum begins to build, with Col U on a run of 8 games undefeated before kick-off. I've not had much chance to attend many Col U away games this season, all the closer ones having been Tuesday night kick-offs, so I took the opportunity to go to only my 2nd away game of the season. I've never been to MK Dons before, it is a team I have largely avoided, the story behind how the club came to be leaves a sour taste in the mouth, and Milton Keynes as a city is the epitome of soulless urban sprawl in the UK, not the type if place I enjoy visiting and far-removed from small town life in Norfolk. Nevertheless, I felt it my duty to explore a new ground, and more importantly back my beloved Col U!!
The journey to Milton Keynes went well to start, until I got to the St. Neots area, where roadworks and traffic were the order of the day, continuing around Bedford, but eventually I weaved my way to the A421, then into a world of dual-carriage ways, roundabouts, huge depots and outlet centres that make up the City of Milton Keynes. I parked outside the stadium, an eye-watering £10.80, I should have taken the £8 pre-book option, my bad. First impressions of this ground were massively positive, a huge, shiny, modern looking stadium, flanked by restaurants and a cinema, certainly an impressive ground and not a typical League 2 venue!
With an hour to kill I walked a lap of the ground, checking out the club shop and picking up a match-day programme, or should I say magazine! The programme was £5 but a full on magazine, covering the next three MK Dons games, not seen anything like this before. A decent read but a bit awkward lugging about a magazine, it does not fit inside a coat pocket or back of your jeans.
Once in the ground I was even more impressed, super clean and modern, and every seat in the away end was padded, luxurious! Even better the seats were quite high when unfolded, perfect to lean back on when standing. With a pristine looking pitch and huge high definition LCD screens, this is easily a Championship level ground, and better than some Premier League stadiums! It's biggest criticism is the fact that MK Dons cannot fill it up so it feels empty and has an impact on atmosphere, but the home fans were louder than I expected to be fair. It was a gloriously sunny day, so much so that the coat quickly came off, and under the blue skies the hosts lined up in their all white kit with gold accents, with Colchester United in their away all black kit.
KEY MOMENTS
MK = MK Dons
CU = Colchester United
19' - CU - Down the right, Anderson finds Taylor who gets in-front of the defender to square a dangerous ball into the box, Tovide is in the middle and stretches out a boot, but fails to make contact with the ball, big chance.
22' - CU - Tovide latches onto the end of a long ball down the left fired up by Iandolo, the defenders fail to deal with it, and at the by-line he cuts the ball back to Taylor whose incoming strike is blocked by Weller and flies out for a corner.
35' - CU - Quick free-kick from Payne out to Iandolo of the left, he finds JK Gordon in the box who immediately squares it in to Taylor, but the shot from close range is fired just wide of the post, Col U carving out some good chances but failing to hit the target.
45' - MK - Just before half-time Tovide loses the ball to Kelly in the middle of the park, he strides forwards, evades a challenge and slips in MK Dons captain and ex-Col U player Alex Gilbey in a dangerous position on the left, he shoots, but thankfully his effort is wide of the mark.
56' - CU - JK Gordon picks up the ball on the left, he skirts along the edge of the post and powers in a curling strike, Trueman is well-beaten but the ball slams into the post and out, almost another special goal from the U's.
67' - MK - Captain Gilbey is threaded in, just as he is about to fire in a brilliant challenge from Kelleher comes in, to take the ball off him without bringing him down in the area, very likely a goal saving tackle.
76' - MK - The hosts in the ascendancy, substitute attacker Hogan latches onto a loose ball and dances through two challenges before hitting a left-footed piledriver from the edge of the box, the 6ft7 Matt Macey is beaten, but it is MK Dons turn to hit the woodwork.
87' - CU - PENALTY & GOAL (0-1) - McDonnell does brilliantly to win the ball, he feeds substitute Thorn on the right wing, he blazes past Weller and squares the ball across the box, it travels all the way to the other side where Iandolo picks the ball up, a short pass to Payne on the edge of the box, he chips the ball up, then controls it in the air before being brought down by substitute Thompson-Sommers, the referee pointing to the spot, there was also a hint of handball in the incident. Payne himself steps up and blasts the ball down the middle, the diving Trueman having opted for his bottom-left, the goal giving the U's an emphatic late lead, can they hold on!
91' - CU - Payne wins the ball and finds Egbo, he squares to Thorn in the middle, he shuffles the ball to the right before firing in a cross-goal strike that skids narrowly wide, almost sealing the victory for the U's.
92' - MK - RED CARD - The athletic Vincent-Young sprints in to win a high ball, somewhat taking Hendry by surprise, his studs up slamming into the U's wingers and the referee immediately pulling out the red card, at which point the MK Don's fans began to stream out of the stadium.
A fantastic performance and huge victory for the U's, the scenes at the end making the awkward travel more than worthwhile. And what an away attendance, 1,330 U's fans in full voice and most staying 10 minutes after the game to celebrate with the players and staff, the bond with the fans growing stronger with every game and the feel-good factor is growing. The win takes Col U up to 11th in the table, with a shot at the play-offs still within reach, the victory taking Col U's unbeaten streak to a stunning 9 in the league, the last defeat the home loss against Accrington Stanley that I was at. Jack Payne was undoubtedly the star of the show, a constant threat all game and he won and converted the penalty to seal the win. Kelleher and Flanagan looked comfortable at the back and substitute Oscar Thorn impressed with his pace, and the short cameo from Kane Vincent-Young was encouraging, looks like he still has his speed too. Other substitutes Simpson and Read looked bright, JK Gordon had another great game for the U's, Iandolo fired out some brilliant passes and McDonnell was his usual destructive self at defensive mid, it is a team really gelling nicely at the moment. Looking at the hosts, they were largely poor but defended well, the winger Travis Patterson the main threat, with Gilbey also getting stuck in and having chances to score. Substitute Hogan also looked sharp when on, but by-and-large they looked rather toothless. Back to the U's, an exciting finale to this season is in store, the Cowley's have done a wonderful job to re-energise the club, and whatever happens the fans will be behind them 110%. I will be back for a home game soon, until then I hope to see them stretch the undefeated run into double-figures as they host a team close to them in the table, Chesterfield, should be a good one, UP THE U's, UP THE U's, UP THE GOOD 'OL WHITE AND BLUES!!!!!!
Line-Ups:
MK DONS: Connal Trueman, Callum Tripp, Luke Offord, Charlie Waller, Aaron Nemane, Dan Crowley, Liam Kelly, Travis Patterson, Joe White, Alex Gilbey (C), Danilo Orsi. SUBS: Tommi O'Reilly, Kane Thompson-Sommers, Callum Hendry, Scott Hogan, Joe Tomlinson, Craig MacGillivray, Connor Lemonheigh-Evans.
COLCHESTER UNITED: Matt Macey, Ellis Iandolo, Tom Flanagan (C), Fiacre Kelleher, Mandela Egbo, John-Kymani Gordon, Jack Payne, Jamie McDonnell, Harry Anderson, Samson Tovide, Lyle Taylor. SUBS: Arthur Read, Tyreece Simpson, Ken Aboh, Kane Vincent-Young, Oscar Thorn, Tom Smith, Rob Hunt.
Comments