By Reece Davies
DONS DISMANTLE RELEGATED ROBINS
Russell Martin’s men were ruthless against a really poor Swindon side under the caretaker management of Tommy Wright. The phrase gets thrown around too often but Will Grigg really was on fire today as The Robins are sent packing back to League Two.
There were no noteworthy occurrences in the opening quarter-hour but Milton Keynes struck first in the 16th minute of the match with both goal scorers from Tuesday night combining. A long ball found Scott Fraser who did well to control the pass and cross low for Will Grigg to show his excellent poaching abilities by catching the Swindon defender on his heels and ghosting in to poke his side in front.
Ten minutes later, The Dons were two up. Zak Jules hit a volley following a scramble created by a Matt O’Riley corner, which was blocked by the most obvious handball you will ever see and of course, Fraser tucked the resulting penalty away with ease, sending Lee Camp the wrong way.
Swindon offered absolutely nothing in the first half-hour but did begin to step their game up and make it more of a contest for a brief spell. Jordan Garrick got the better of Matthew Sorinola to put in a teasing low cross that invitingly found Tyler Smith, but he gave Andrew Fisher no work to do as he blazed over despite being completely unmarked.
If Jules was effective in his role in the second MK Dons goal by causing the penalty decision, he was instrumental in MK Dons’ third. Again, he found himself out wide following an O’Riley corner and did incredibly to reach the by-line and cross low to find Grigg who grabbed another poacher’s goal and put this game to bed before the half-time whistle.
Half-time: MK Dons 3-0 Swindon Town
Not even a minute had gone by in the second half and Grigg had completed his hat-trick. David Kasumu played Fraser in with an excellent ball, leaving the Scot with the sample task of squaring for Grigg to complete his first-ever hat-trick in the all-white of MK Dons.
By the 49th minute, Grigg had four! He became the first MK Dons player to score four in one game after Sorinola played in a simple low cross and Grigg swept home with aplomb.
Andrew Surman nearly got in on the action after brilliant work on the right-hand side culminated in Ethan Laird crossing for the midfielder and his effort beat Camp, but Anthony Grant was well-placed on the line to block and keep the score down.
Surman had another chance to get on the scoresheet in the 64th minute. Sorinola slipped in Fraser who squared for the former Cherries man and he blazed embarrassingly over the crossbar.
The game went into a lull after this as the prospect of breaking the biggest win record (7-0) from 2014 looked to be fading away. However, Camp was on his toes to make an impressive save from Laird in the 84th minute, tipping his header onto the crossbar.
Previous matches at Stadium MK seemed to have five minutes of stoppage time or more but Scott Oldham put Swindon out of their misery swiftly as the clock hit 90. MK Dons have hit nine goals in two matches against The Robins this season and will be sorry to see them leave this division.
Full-time: MK Dons 5-0 Swindon Town
Man of the match: Will Grigg.
