Mk Irish off to a great start for the 24/25 season.

An FA cup preliminary round run, second in the League to Arlesley Town and with three games in hand, MK Irish have had a good start to the season. Today they play Harpenden Town, a win today and either a draw or loss in Arlesley’s match could put them top.

Right from the start MK Irish came out attacking and dominated most of the opening play. Two early MK attacks led to an Mk player being brought down in the penalty box. The second foul which left the MK player on the ground for five minutes resulted in only a yellow card being issued and the calls from the dugout for a penalty which was not given. Mk Irish fans responded with their own repeating cries of, ‘your just another shit ref’.

Twelve mins in, first Harpenden shot on goal stopped with a great save from MK Irish goalkeeper. Then five mins later Harpenden counter attacking pressure led to a near equaliser with a shot which bounced off the cross bar. The counter increasing play was quickly killed off when Mk scored an opening goal in the 19th min which was quickly followed by a second, one min later. Sharpened continued to never say die with a corner kick leading to a goal mouth scramble and Harpenden shot which nearly went in. However, Mk Irish were having none of it with a third goal going in on the strike of the 26th min. One min later, yet another MK attack led to a hand ball by the Harpenden goalkeeper just outside the box. This time the referee was not so hesitant giving the goalie a Red card and a close on goal direct free kick which would have gone in, had it not been for a brilliant save by one of the Harpenden players acting as the sub goalkeeper. In the 31st min, inexperience quickly being showed when a fourth goal hit the back of the Harpenden net. For the remainder of the second half MK held onto their monstrous lead by continually passing and keeping posession deneying Harpenden any chance of getting a compensatory goal, let any chance of getting back into the match. In the 44th min, MK went unbelievably a further 5-0 up. With stunned disbelief, and with 10 players remaining despondent Harpenden went into the half time dressing room with only a very faint hope that the second half might bring a better day. From a spectator’s point of view, the match result looked inevitable whatever happened in the second half. The first quarter brought a few more shots on goal from MK Irish and no sign of a concrete fight back from Harpenden. Instead things went from bad to worse for Harpenden, when Mk went 6-0 up in the 64th min and 7-0 in the 67th, and finally 8-0 in the 74th. A spectacular win and start to the season. Congratulations to MK Irish from GMK News.