MK Dons (1) 4 Hause o.g. 43, Grigg 68, McFadzean 70,
A Morris o.g. 73
Gillingham (2) 2 McDonald 6, Kedwell (pen) 29
Att. 7,595
Entrance: £20
Programme: £3.00
Mileage: 240/644
Match Report
Up and down the country, at the 72 Football League clubs, optimism is at its highest, if that is not the case on the opening day then there is little point to it all. My sense of optimism might not have been that high but as Gillingham raced into a two goal lead, I felt my pre-season sense of foreboding may have been a little misplaced even if I wasn’t quite ready to join in with the “We are top of the league” chants.
Quite what happened in five crazy minutes is hard to understand as the Gillingham back line folded like a house of playing cards under a trio of high crosses that brought a goal on each occasion for Milton Keynes Dons.
Since my last visit to MK the top tier now has seats and, although those seats and many more in the lower tier are devoid of punters, the stadium is an impressive sight. A pre-match viewing on the big screen of the Toy Dolls’ version of Nellie the Elephant with their ultra-skinny lead singer had us splitting our sides with laughter before the teams lined up for the serious stuff of the first kick-off of the 2014-15 season.
Peter Taylor’s first pick of the season was a difficult one to predict and he chose to go with Cody McDonald as a lone striker with his partner Danny Kedwell playing as a deep lying number nine. Debuts were handed to John Egan, Kortney Hause, Aaron Morris, Jermaine McGlashan, who had an eye-catching opening 45 minutes and Doug Loft, who took on the captain’s armband.
Gillingham took the lead after six minutes with a route one goal. A long kick from Stuart Nelson was headed on from the centre circle by Kedwell and as McDonald and Kyle McFadzean tangled to deal with the bounce of the ball, it was the Gillingham striker that got clear to shoot across the face of David Martin and into the far corner for a dream start.
The home side entered into a period of possession without causing the Gillingham rearguard any real problems. Jake Hessenthaler and Aaron Morris mopping up every loose ball in front of the back four and when he was released, McGlashan brought a series of fouls from a cumbersome looking MKD back four.
Just before the half-hour mark another long ball out of defence, this time from Egan, saw a misjudgement from Anthony Kay and McDonald, bearing down on goal, was brought down by the onrushing Martin. Kedwell, unerring as ever from the spot, sent the keeper the wrong to spark celebration from over 1,000 Gills' fans that had made the trip north, even if some of them were getting in front of themselves with their predictions of “winning the league”.
Nelson had to be at his very best to touch away a downward header from Danny Green on 37 minutes, but with four minutes to get to the sanctuary of the dressing room with their lead intact, the Gillingham keeper uncharacteristically misjudged a corner from Green and his finger tip touch found the head of Hause who turned it into his own net.
Nelson failed to re-emerge from the dressing room after the break having broken a thumb, which might have accounted for his mistake for the goal, in his place was debutant Glenn Morris.
More misfortune befell the visitors after 10 minutes of the second half when McDonald, who had shown a clean pair of heels to McFadzean and Kay on numerous occasions, was fouled by the latter and, after an eight minute delay was stretchered from the field with what might well be a serious leg injury.
What happened next beggared belief as Gillingham crumbled in the space of five bewildering minutes. Sub keeper Morris sped from his line to deny Dele Alli but then watched on helplessly as the game slipped from the grasp of the visitors between the 68th and 73rd minutes. A Green cross from the right met the head of Will Grigg who got between Leon Legge and Hause to score into the bottom corner for the equaliser.
Two minutes later, a free kick from Ben Reeves into the box saw McFadzean power a header into the top corner to make the MK Dons comeback complete. Gillingham’s fragility in the air was compounded in the 73rd minute when a corner from the ex-Dagenham player Green, who had a memorable debut for the home side, was headed into his own net by Aaron Morris to complete a miserable debut for his namesake in the Gillingham goal.
The last 20 minutes or so saw Gillingham pose no threat whilst doing their best to keep the scoreline from entering embarrassing territory. The injuries, without doubt, upset Plan A, whist Plan B, well there didn’t appear to be a Plan B. No real blame can be attached to Glenn Morris, as the sub keeper, but he doesn’t have the physical presence of Nelson and looked less commanding in his six yard box.
What might have been a dream start to the League season turned into a nightmare and the prospect of a hard season to come looms large, but hope reigns eternal and that hope is to be drawn from those first 40 minutes and not what happened in the terrible five.
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