By Reece Davies
We’ve given Martin the night off tonight as he has an important exam to revise for in the morning, so in steps Reece to hold the fort for us tonight, thanks to him, and good luck to Martin tomorrow.
ENNIS ARM HELPS DONS BEAT ARGYLE
Russell Martin’s side got over the Lowe of conceding an equaliser to rally and beat Ryan’s men late on in the battle of League One’s young, progressive managers.
The first major action of the game occurred in a whirlwind ninth minute with Harry Darling at the heart of all of it. The young defender cleared off the line from Luke Jephcott after Dean Lewington’s backpass put his teammates in trouble. Almost immediately after, Darling played in Cameron Jerome to tee up Scott Fraser, but the Scot fired over.
Danny Mayor might have scored just a couple of minutes later after terrific work from Joe Edwards culminated in Lowe’s golden boy firing just wide. For all the world, the shot looked like it would nestle in the bottom corner but fortunately, it went narrowly wide of the post with Andrew Fisher statuesque.
Matthew Sorinola, clearly not content with his three assists at the weekend, continued his incredible creative form by crossing for Jerome to head home in the 22nd minute. The chance was definitely in the “bread and butter” category for a striker of Jerome’s experience, such was the quality of Sorinola’s delivery.
Darling seemed to constantly be allowed to carry the ball long distances and Fraser came close to profiting as a result. The former Cambridge United man ventured from the back to pick out Ethan Laird, who in turn found Fraser but his effort could only find the gloves of Michael Cooper.
Jerome might have had a second before the half’s end as he seemed to have all the time in the world to strike from a ball over the Argyle defence, but he found the angle was against him, as was Plymouth’s number one who saved well.
Half-time: MK Dons 1-0 Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth were back on terms on the hour. Ryan Hardie cleverly left a forward pass which would have seen him flagged offside and the ball was worked to Conor Grant, whose fierce 25-yard blockbuster rippled the back of the MK Dons net.
Will Grigg was brought on, almost immediately following the equaliser. A poor attempt at a clearance following a Matt O’Riley corner dropped at the feet of the Sunderland loanee but he failed to beat Cooper from close range.
Despite Argyle’s improved second half and Fraser effectively being marked out of the game; both of those aforementioned facts were made redundant by Niall Ennis’s handball which gave the Dons number 10 the chance to restore the lead for Milton Keynes. He stepped up to score in the 89th minute even though Cooper’s guess was correct.
The Dons survived seven minutes of injury time, with some excellent game management to complete consecutive victories with late winners.
Full-time: MK Dons 2-1 Plymouth Argyle
Man of the Match: Harry Darling
