MK play first home match of 26/27 Season

Mk begin their new campaign following promotion into League one, at home today against Huddersfield. Mk got off to a good start by drawing 2-2 away to Oxford in their first match of the 26/27 season. They led for most of the match and were denied the three points with a last minute Oxford equaliser. Lets hope today’s match can be more rewarding with a first win of the new season rather than a draw.

MK greet Huddersfield in the opening home match of the 26/27 season

Huddersfield brought with them a reasonable amount of supporters in the away end.

Huddersfield away end

Vocally with Huddersfield being a bit stronger, the match kicked off. Three minutes, Huddersfield managed to start a dangerous looking attack and got close to the MK goal but were denied any opportunity with a whistle blow up from the female referee. Mk got an attack of their own minutes later on the left hand side but had the ball stolen from by an excellent tackle from the Huddersfield right defender. Was this an early sign of things to come that despite having made six new signings over the summer, Mk would be unable to dominate the match and launch penetrating and exciting attacks ?

In the 8th minute, Mk’s nervous and unimpressive start quickly got punished with Huddersfield hitting the back of the net after a relatively easy intrusion into the left hand side of the Mk penalty box.

Huddersfield go up 1-0 and celbrate in the 8th minute

Four minutes later, Huddersfield were able to repeat the same scenario with a Huddersfield attacker slicing his way through the Mk defence, this time on the right hand side. Luckily for Mk, this time the shot which followed did not result in the ball going in. The first quarter of the match was all Huddersfield’s. Would the second be the same? In the 18th min, Mk started to attack but Huddersfield like with the first quarter were looking strong in defence and dangerously very good on the break. By the 21st min, Mk were starting to win a bit more of the play in the centre midfield when on attack but the result was always the same, no continuation into an all out frontal attack. More often than not any consequential attacking play you did see was a counter attack by Huddersfield. By the end of the second quarter, players on both sides were chasing and following the ball rather than being spread out and sticking to defined tactical positions. In the 26th, Mk got their best opportunity. Martin Ekpiteta slowly dropped the ball onto his foot from a collected long pass to him iand struck the ball which unfortunately for Mk went safely into the Huddersfield keeper’s hands.

Huddersfield replied with another break in the 29th which resulted in two Huddersfield strikers getting two serious shots on goal before the ball was finally kicked away by a still nervous looking Mk defence. The third quarter was more of the same with Mk not able to launch serious attacks and shots on goal with Huddersfield always counter attacking and more than a few occasions coming close to extending their lead. MK’s inability to set the world on fire for their first home match of the season resulted in frustration and confrontation on the pitch which in the closing stages of the first half the female referee was finding hard to control. When the half time whistle finally came it was of great relief to MK. MK had fielded most of the summer new signings like Charlie Goode and Sam Nombe to presumably to try them out and get them to start to gel with the team. With the more match experienced players like Callum Patertson and Mendez- Laing on the bench it was of no surprise that not a lot was happening upfront for MK in the first half. There was plenty to reflect about during the break. If Mk were to stand any chance if getting back into the match second half, substitutions would have to be made to kick start the MK front line and solidify a nervous looking MK defence.

Mk came out fighting more in the first five mins of the second half with some runs into the Huddersfield box and some opportunities desperately trying to be created.

In the 54th minute, the up in mk tempo got rewarded early with Aaron Collins equalising.

MK Players celebrate after Aeron Collins equalises in the 54th.

Huddersfield despite the equaliser were still looking good on the break and quickly responded with a won corner kick, two mins later. It didn’t go in and the game by the second quarter of the second half was now looking wide open rather than always going in Huddersfield’s favour, as it had done in the first half.

In the 60th min, the MK manager gave out the order to start warming up substitutes. With the right ones being made, there was now a serious chance that Mk might take the game rather than lose it. In the 60th min, the referee refused to grant a penalty after a foul preferring instead to just issue a card. With the u turn in Mk’s play, Huddersfield were able to counter attack but much less so than they had done in the first. In the 65th min, it was Huddersfield who substituted rather than Mk. It looked like the MK manager wanted to keep riding the new turned wave of better play. Whether or not this was the right thing to do, only time would tell.

The MK attacks kept coming and so did the delay in an MK substitution. Finally it came in the 69th min with the newly signed Sam Nombe being replaced with Callum Patertson and Barnett replacing Gethin Jones. Immediately, the substitutions appeared to take effect with Barnett running successfully down the right to create a dangerous opportunity and chance of taking the lead. If Paterson could fire up, the chance of MK taking the lead looked more and more promising. By the 73rd, Huddersfield were looking deflated and MK were getting most of the play. Huddersfield’s defence was also looking less strong as it done in the first half, finding it more difficult to combat the step up in MK’s play following more attacking players on the field.

Marvin Rkpiteta kept having a good game for MK frequently gaining possession, passing and opening up opportunities.

In the 77th, Mk failed to win a goal mouth scramble in the Huddersfield box. Despite Mk creating more and more match winning opportunities, Huddersfield managed to get one or two more counter attacks in, in the final quarter of the match. However, the Huddersfield counter attacks were still looking much weaker than they had done in the first half. Mk were now looking the stronger side for possibly gaining the lead. In the 81st they won a free kick just outside the right hand side of the box but nothing came of it as the kick , curved and went wide left of the Huddersfield goal. In the 83rd, Crowley replaced Collins who was looking tired and not getting much of the second half.

If Mk wanted to do well in League one this season, it was in drawing matches like this that they needed to turn into a win. In the 86th a second free kick was awarded to mk close to the half way line which also failed to go anywhere like the earlier one. In the 87th, Huddersfield striker got into the mk box again from a counter attack which was given a long kick away by an MK defender. In the closing minutes of the match, it was now looking like Mk were trying to hold onto the draw rather than seize victory. In the three minutes of extra time, it was end to end exciting stuff with Huddersfield now slightly getting a but more of the play. Huddersfield kept dangerously getting into the Mk box and looked like scoring in towards the end but Mk were able to hold on and take a second draw in the first two matches of the new season.

9505 attendance