MK New City hit Second in League Two.

This afternoon , fourth placed MK at the start of the match played tenth placed Crewe at MK Stadium. A win today would put them further up in the top spot and prove the bookies right that MK should go up the season.

Before the match, Fourth placed MK line up for combat with Crewe at the start of the match.

Mk opened up well in the first minute with two close shots on goal and a third which rebounded for a corner.

Away end with Crewe supporters

Home end still sparsely populated and opening chorus of ‘no one likes us’.

Home End with MK supporters

By the end of the tenth min, MK were still piling on the pressure and pushing the ball more up into the Crewe half. Towards the end of the first quarter, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was back running down the left wing and creating opportunities with balls going into the Crewe near side box. A dangerous opportunity came when one more of his crosses connected with Lawrence Macquarie, who was bought down with a call for a penalty which was rejected by the referee. Crewe looked promising on the counter attack and managed to penetrate the MK penalty area with a run and shot which thankfully for MK came to nothing. Another shot by Crewe came in the 18th, however, goal keeper, Craig MacGillivray made a good diving save to stop it. Most of MK’s opportunities were coming from the left side and one was left wondering why the the right was not being used more for attacking play. However, in the 22nd min another cross from MK play on the left side close to the Crewe goal connected with the boot of Will Collar and MK were one nil up.

MK players huddle together to celebrate Will Collar’s goal putting them one nil up.

By the final quarter of the first half things were looking good for MK as their league position in League two was now second following Will Collar’s shot hitting the back of the net. However Crewe were saying ‘ never say die’ as tension increased with Crewe creating more counter attack opportunities into the MK end. The strong desire by Crewe to equalise, led to more conflict and fouls in the MK half as New City fought to hold on to their lead. In the closing minutes of the first half, somebody must have realised the right wing side was not being used enoough to create scoring opportunities. Mendez-Laing was switched to the right and something came of it. The cross from the right connected with mid- fielder Alex Gilbey and the New City were 2-0 up. A good position to be in when the referee blew the half time whistle. The second half was all about killing off any attacking opportunities, Crewe dared to make.

MK celebrate after going Gilbey’s second goal and going 3-0 u

Mk started the second half from where they had left off with more attacking play down the right hand side of the pitch. Five mins in, it paid off for a second time with Gilbey again managing to pick up a cross from the right and converting it into a goal. With a 3-0 lead, as far as today’s match was concerned it looked like curtains for Crewe. The counter attacks kept coming and so did the fouls and calls for a penalty when MK attacking players were brought down in the Crewe penalty area. In the 63rd minute, networking player from mid week, Joe Tomlinson was brought on in the opening wave of end game substitutions. Would you believe it, he was put on to play as right winger. He did the job quite well connecting up with feeds from defender Luke Offord and goal scorer, Will Collar on the right side. With improvements on the right, one was left wondering what was happening on the left wing? Mendez- Laing was still running down the left, under orders or on his own initiative? Whatever, one could not help feeling that if he was forced and disciplined to play more on the right instead of drifting to the left, more goals could come turning a convincing win to a rout. In the 70th minute, MK’s keeper went down injured and play stopped to attend to his needs. Thankfully although still crouching he played on and looked ok. Crewe stepped up the counter play to test him out, and got a two corners each side of the pitch in the 74th min. Crewe strikers were given the opportunity to pass to and from each other but were unable to finish. Mk brought on more subs to develop tactics for future matches under the comfortable 3-0 lead and Mendez- Laing was finally taken off, assumingly as punishment for some of his ill disciplined play. Jon Mellish was now playing the left wing position, although like Mendez -Laing he was allowed to drift more into the centre. Rushden Hepburn-Murphy was bought on the close of end game substituting. However, the net result of it all was a lot of bunching on the right hand side with nothing going on, on the left.

An indication that MK’s goal keeper had not fully recovered from his early on clash came in the closing moments of the match. A Crewe cross came in which the keeper, Craig Mcgravy nervously fumbled resulting Crewe getting one back.

Today’s attendance was 6911. With a reasonably comfortable win and rise to second place in the league who knows how many will attend next match.