By Luke Payne, Feature Writer
Before we begin, I would just like to take the time to thank you all for your support over the course of the season, not just for the ratings, but for all of the articles I’ve written. It still seems crazy to me that this little series has become a part of people’s football experience and I’ll happily be carrying on the ratings for the play-off games. I also have to extend special thanks to Jonathan Harries and Chris Turner who have stepped in and covered me time and time again this season. Without their help, the series would fall apart and it’s an honour to be able to work with such dedicated individuals writing content on the club we all love. With that said…let’s get into the ratings!
It’s been a rollercoaster ride of a season and it’s not over yet, but a home game against relegation fighters Sutton United saw the end of The Dons’ league fixtures for the campaign. To begin with it looked to be a routine win at Stadium MK but an enthralling second half saw Sutton fight back to earn themselves a 4-4 draw. It wasn’t enough to save the South London side from relegation, but it was enough to give Mike Williamson and his team some food for thought. Here’s how I rated the players after the dramatic draw at home to Sutton:
Formation: 5-4-1/5-2-2-1 (Two holding midfielders and two attacking midfielders)
GK – Michael Kelly – 6.5: Starting off with a player that’s very difficult to give a rating to. Kelly made a number of important stops to keep Sutton out, including an impressive save with his foot as he rushed back to his goal-line after a turnover in possession. He also won a one-on-one as well as a host of other more routine saves. However, he probably should’ve done a better job with some of the goals. Sutton’s first goal was incredibly poor from the keeper, letting Stephen Duke-McKenna fire one in at the near post having expected the opposition player to cross the ball instead of shooting. This made it 2-1 after 50 minutes. This wasn’t the only time Kelly’s reactions were too slow. He was beaten again by Charlie Lakin’s shot from outside the box. It was a good strike but given the range, there’s an argument to say the keeper should’ve kept it out. Kelly’s distribution was questionable at times but he did pop up with a lovely ball forward for Ellis Harrison shortly after a goal-kick which initiated the move that led to Harrison’s goal.
RWB – Kyran Lofthouse – 6.5: Still not totally convincing out on the wing but he had some bright moments. Lofthouse played a part in the build-up to The Dons’ third goal, holding off his man following Jack Tucker’s throw-in and flicking the ball into the path of Emre Tezgel. He was involved again for the sequence that led to Tezgel’s disallowed goal, as well as the move that led to the free-kick that started said sequence. This came after Lofthouse switched wings to allow Cameron Norman to slot in at right wingback once Joe Tomlinson was withdrawn. Though involved in some positive moves, Lofthouse did lack composure at times, particularly in the first half where he often released the ball too early in the attacking third when he had the chance to advance whilst his teammates got into better positions. He did lose his man a couple of times in defence as well. Lofthouse came off after 74 minutes for Dan Kemp.
RCB – Jack Tucker – 4.5: Tucker seems to be struggling to shake off the cobwebs after his return from injury. He was still lacking in sharpness and was caught out when mis-controlling the ball on the edge of The Dons’ box. Fortunately Kelly was able to recover with an improvised save but it was shortly afterwards that Sutton would go on to score their first and that all came from the pressure put on from Tucker’s mistake. He was at fault again when Tope Fadahunsi scored following a corner routine. Tucker was beaten for strength far too easily in the air by Harry Smith. The Sutton captain won the header and though his shot only hit the bar, it rebounded for Fadahunsi who found the back of the net with the second effort. Luckily for Dons, the referee disallowed the goal for a foul on Daniel Harvie in the build-up. These were just a couple of examples of Tucker losing out too easily and it was quite a regular occurrence. The rest of his possession play was solid enough, but he still has that mistake in him.
CB – Warren O’Hora – 5: O’Hora had the tricky task of dealing with target man Harry Smith. Sutton’s direct style of play led to a lot of aerial duels between the pair and it was Smith who came out on top more often than not. The centre-back was heavily at fault for Sutton’s second goal. He lost an aerial duel to Smith who was then able to knock the ball down for Charlie Lakin. O’Hora tried to tackle Lakin but was beaten far too easily again which gave the Sutton man plenty of time to shoot and ultimately, score. This made it 3-2 after 62 minutes. O’Hora was comfortable enough on the ball and played out from the back well, he just struggled with the physical battle he was presented with.
LCB – Daniel Harvie – 5.5: Not the most reliable in terms of his positioning but Harvie did add something to the possession play. He worked well alongside the likes of Joe Tomlinson, Lewis Bate and Alex Gilbey to work the ball up the pitch and he operated as an extra midfield player at times. Harvie was the driving force for the second goal, carrying the ball from the halfway line to Sutton’s box before moving the ball on to Tomlinson. Gilbey would go on to score a couple of passes later. Although his willingness to get forward certainly helped in attacking areas, it did sometimes leave Dons vulnerable at the back. This is best shown by the third goal where Harvie took up an aggressive position whilst Dons had the ball in the defensive third. Ethan Robson tried to play the ball forward to him only for it to be intercepted, leaving Tope Fadahunsi with plenty of space to run into. From there Fadahunsi was able to play the ball across goal for Stephen Duke-McKenna who supplied the finish.
LWB – Joe Tomlinson – 7: Tomlinson took a little while to get going. He got into some good positions in the opening stages but was sometimes too slow with his decision-making. However, as the game went on he got sharper and started to ask questions of Sutton’s defence. He played the ball across for the opening goal. It didn’t find a Dons man but the Sutton player wasn’t in a position to clear it properly so Max Dean was able to pick up the loose ball and set up Alex Gilbey. Tomlinson had a small role in the build-up to the second goal as well, playing the ball across to Gilbey on the edge of the box. He then indirectly set up the third goal in the second half, going for goal from range. His effort took a huge deflection but fell straight into the path of Emre Tezgel who would go on to score. Tomlinson didn’t show quite as much quality as he usually has, but he asked the right questions to help unlock Sutton’s defence. He came off after 62 minutes for Cameron Norman.
CM – Jack Payne – 7.5: Payne’s sharp turns and quick feet proved to be too much for Sutton, particularly in the first half where he orchestrated a lot of the play. He opened the scoring after Max Dean played the ball to him in the box following a fast attacking move, initiated by Payne himself on the halfway line. Payne hit his shot first time from the centre of the box and found the bottom right corner, making it 1-0 after 14 minutes. He won a free-kick in a dangerous position following a neat one-two with Ellis Harrison but Payne only hit the wall with the resulting effort. With this being said, the rebound fell to Lofthouse who immediately found Payne in space. The midfielder played a low ball across the box for Emre Tezgel who finished the move beautifully but it was unfortunately disallowed for offside. He was involved again for Harrison’s goal, heading the ball to Tezgel who swiftly sent Harrison through on goal. Payne wasn’t quite as useful defensively with Sutton’s physical players able to push through the holding midfield duo without much fuss.
CM – Lewis Bate – 7: Had a slow start to the game by his standards, with a few more errors than usual creeping into his game. With this being said, he soon settled and started to carry the ball well. Bate and Payne worked together to control the play, connecting defence and attack. The tiny terrors were regularly too quick for Sutton’s pressing players and were able to dance their way out of trouble. Although he wasn’t heavily involved in any of the goals, Bate did help with the creation of a number of chances. He probably did need to drop in a little closer to the defence at times in order to try and crowd out the area around Harry Smith who seemed to win everything that came his way. If the Dons midfield had been sharper in dealing with those second balls, then it wouldn’t have mattered that Smith was winning everything in the air.
RAM – Stephen Wearne – 6.5: Wearne had a relatively quiet game. He moved the ball about well and played a very small part in the opening goal, helping to work the ball through the thirds. He contributed well to the press but didn’t create too many chances for himself. Wearne carried on where he left off in the second half but was one of the first to be rested, coming off after 56 minutes for Emre Tezgel.
LAM – Alex Gilbey (C) – 7.5: The captain was a key man in the first half, contributing to the first goal by playing it out to Tomlinson as the wingback overlapped down the left. However, it was the second goal where Gilbey really came alive. He received the ball on the edge of the box from Tomlinson. From there, he played the ball in to Max Dean who immediately played the ball back into the path of Gilbey. The captain took a couple of touches to escape his marker before shooting across goal, hitting the post before finally crossing the line to make it 2-0 after 41 minutes. Gilbey pressed well alongside Dean and Wearne, forcing Sutton into rushed clearances plenty of times. He came off after 62 minutes with Ethan Robson coming on to take his place. Jack Payne moved further forward to allow Robson to play the holding midfield role.
ST – Max Dean – 7.5: Evidently frustrated to not have scored but Dean’s contributions were still vital. He picked up two assists, both for playing the ball to his teammates inside the box, showing good awareness and vision. He did have a couple of shots on goal but these were denied by Steve Arnold. His pressing was highly energetic as usual which forced the Sutton keeper into rushing some of his clearances. Dean came off after 56 minutes with Ellis Harrison coming on in his place.
SUB (RAM) – Emre Tezgel – 8 (TOP DON): Top Don could’ve gone to a number of attacking players but I’ve gone with Tezgel. From the second he came on, every attack seemed to go through him at some point. He had one dodgy moment where he over-hit a pass back to O’Hora but aside from this, he showed fantastic levels of quality. Tezgel scored The Dons’ third goal of the game. Tomlinson’s shot deflected kindly off a Sutton player and into Tezgel’s path. It was then easy for the loanee to roll the ball into the back of the net one-on-one with Steve Arnold. He scored again a few minutes later, beating the Sutton keeper with a wonderful flick from Payne’s low cross. Unfortunately Tezgel was just offside so the goal didn’t count. The young striker then assisted the fourth goal, controlling Payne’s header before cushioning a through ball for Ellis Harrison. He sent Harrison through on goal again later in the half with another through ball but Sutton were saved by the woodwork.
SUB (ST) – Ellis Harrison – 7.5: Harrison worked well as a hold-up player but his goal saw him use a combination of skill and speed. From Tezgel’s through ball, Harrison drove forward and rounded the goalkeeper before rolling the ball in to make it 4-2 after 70 minutes. He had another chance to score later in the half but his effort from the right side of the box struck the woodwork before bouncing back to a Sutton defender, enabling them to clear their lines. Harrison was part of a very disorganised defensive line for Sutton’s equalising goal. He allowed Harry Smith to have too much space in the box, giving the target man a free header from Stephen Duke-McKenna’s cross. Smith’s glancing header found the far bottom corner, making it 4-4 after 90+1 minutes.
SUB (RWB) – Cameron Norman – 7: A solid performance from the wingback. He got stuck in, won his battles but also played the ball around well. He may not have been quite as attacking as Lofthouse, but he offered a better level of defensive support.
SUB (CM) – Ethan Robson – 4.5: Robson had a poor game. He was heavily at fault for Sutton’s third goal, giving the ball away with a bad pass. Then, instead of stepping into the centre-back position to cover Harvie, Robson stepped forward to challenge the man on the ball which gave Sutton an easy way to play around him. The ball was played straight out to Tope Fadahunsi who then played a low ball across goal for Stephen Duke-McKenna who easily doubled his total for the day, making it 4-3 after 75 minutes. Robson was unreliable on the ball at times, though he did play an important part in the build-up for one of Harrison’s chances. He also didn’t provide as much defensive support as he should’ve, given that he was brought on as a more physical alternative to Bate and Payne.
SUB (LWB) – Dan Kemp – 5: Kemp had a poor game, though this wasn’t helped by playing a position that was clearly alien to him. This was summarised well by his positioning for Sutton’s fourth goal. Kemp was stood behind the defensive line, playing three Sutton attackers onside. Fortunately the ball never reached them as the cross was aimed for Harry Smith, but if it had, Kemp would’ve been directly responsible. He looked uncomfortable playing at wingback, though he did burst forwards when he had the chance. Kemp played the ball forward for Tezgel in the build-up to Harrison’s second major chance. He got into some good positions but was let down by a poor touch here or there.
TEAM PERFORMANCE – 6: It’s not exactly the statement win that it could’ve been, but it did feel as though a few of the players were trying to preserve themselves for the play-off games. The most important part of this game was getting through it without injuries. However, it is still disappointing that Dons didn’t do more to see out the game. The defending wasn’t exactly convincing and Sutton had plenty of chances to score. The whole team needs to defend as more of a unit. There are individual errors being made in those areas, but equally when someone does make a mistake, very few of the players seem to have the instinct to cover anyone else’s role. The attack rotate fluidity all the time, if the same approach could be used to defend, it could make a real difference. It’s just a case of getting those extra bodies in the way when it matters most. Those are the sort of instincts that could be the difference between play-off success and play-off failure.
The upside is that it’s the second game in a row where all three strikers have contributed with either a goal or an assist. Having three inform options to choose from ensures that Mike Williamson’s men should pose a threat for the entirety of both play-off games. This is before you even consider the likes of Alex Gilbey, Stephen Wearne and Joe Tomlinson, all of whom offer an additional attacking threat. Lewis Bate and Jack Payne seem nailed on as the holding midfield duo for the play-off games against Crawley and that duel for midfield dominance could be pivotal. Both sides play a similar brand of football and if the league games against Crawley were anything to go by, it could well come down to tactical adjustments on the day. That does make the omission of MJ Williams for the Sutton game interesting because he offers a far more physical midfield option and his presence could be helpful against Crawley, particularly in the away leg. After Ethan Robson’s last couple of performances it will be interesting to see who takes the midfield spot on the bench.
Regardless, the important thing to focus on now is backing the team. There’s a genuine opportunity to break the play-off curse here. The best thing Dons fans can do is inspire that positive energy, manifest it so when the players walk out at Crawley, they’re uplifted by the atmosphere that we bring. I’m expecting two very tough games of chess between Mike Williamson and Scott Lindsey and it could come down to the finest of margins. Let’s be the twelve man and be the reason we get over the line and on the road to Wembley!
If you’ve read this far then thank you! I’d love to hear your thoughts on the game in the comments below and I hope you enjoyed the read!
