It’s a rare thing in this column to trot out the line “you can only beat what’s put in front of you”, but here we are folks. This one was an absolute doozy.
We wanted an away win, craved it even. It wasn’t quite a millstone, but the order from the quarry wasn’t too far away from being delivered. In truth, this was the game the Royals were waiting for. The Dons were in poor form and a win was there for the taking.
However, we were still without George Earthy and Jack Marriott (which is something we’ll
have to get used to for a while), but did we need them? Not a jot, sir.
Josh Stokes reminded us what he’s capable of – and had done so already in his loan stint with Stockport County. He grew into the game the more it went on. His pressing and willingness to get involved to rescue lost causes is admirable.
Stokes gives us a lot more presence than, say, Kamari Doyle. He’s proactive and rarely reactive. While he presses well, he often finds himself in space, which is a fine trait to have.
Lewis Wing was much improved too. Little flashes of the old confidence appeared now and then. On another day he may have put one of his trademark strikes away also.
A team performance like this one will buoy most players and Wing could benefit from this. There can be few better feelings as a captain to go away from home and perform as we did.
The lack of a clean sheet will sting a little; it could and should have been more, had Sam Nombe not fluffed his lines with an open goal at his mercy. For this reason, the performance wasn’t quite perfect, but it would be supremely churlish of me to double down on the one goal conceded.
Leam Richardson has mentioned previously we’ve not had the luck in some games this season, and in others we’ve had zero from the officials either. But in this game, two of the goals were just pure comedy.
The benefactor for all of this was Kyreece Lisbie. One of his main strengths isn’t necessarily what he can do with the ball as his feet, but it’s his presence, his unpredictability, his ability to make something happen out of nothing. He’s just a menace.
The MK Dons defence and goalkeeper had a couple of mares that they’ll soon want to forget as Lisbie caused the own goal and then profited purely for himself.
The fact that he only completed TWO passes in the entire game highlights what kind of player he is. He’s a creator and finisher of moves; he’s not the initial catalyst. And we’re all fine with that.
He could have had a hat-trick too, but wasn’t able to connect neatly enough. At the end of the day, it really didn’t matter, nor should we care.
One player who didn’t get on the scoresheet but did contribute a great deal was our new number nine, Jamie Reid. He was probably the wise choice to take a starting berth over Jacob Brown, who struggled to impose himself against Bradford City. Reid’s physicality caused MK Dons all sorts of problems, but it was his selflessness which impressed me the most.
As one of our more elder statesmen, he showed his experience and craft with some neat play that wasn’t off the cuff or impulsive. He played for the team, first and foremost. That’s something which is always required and we have that in abundance this season from many sources.
Paddy Lane is another that could be thrown into that mix. He’s struggled to find form in the blue and white, but this season he’s found those happy feet.
With fitness and happiness improved, he’s simply a different player compared to last season. Everyone knows Lane’s the class joker, but he’s fast becoming an ace in the pack. Being able to slot in at left-back as well as being an intelligent source at the other end of the pitch solidifies that notion.
While we were brutal and deadly in the second half, it’s not often I watch the opposition intently. It was one of those games where we had so little threat against us that I could take in how awful MK were.
For a team that had a number of Championship players, they were, frankly, one of the worst sides I’ve seen in recent years. It felt like they were the away team and not a good one at that.
Rarely does it feel so easy, but when the opposition plays like a bunch of strangers, you really do need to put the boot in and take advantage – and that we did very, very well indeed.
Hopefully, this result will be the one that really kicks us on. There was a period in the second half when we really showed our joined-up thinking and MK had no answer for our firepower.
We needed to get this one out of our system and now we’re in the playoff zone. We need to foster this feeling and progress into our next away fixtures.
They won’t be as easy as this one, but when the opposition is this bad, all you can do is to capitalise. Five stars. Keep it going. No further notes.
