Sitting on the train travelling towards Britain's most famous 'new town' it suddenly hit me that I really could be at the scene of an FA Cup giantkilling. MK were in hot form in the league, 4th in the table and playing some great football, well placed to challenge for a promotion place to the Championship. QPR on the other hand, had lost the momentum they began the season with and they had also lost their enigmatic captain Joey Barton the previous week. Unbeknownst to them at the time, they would be soon to lose their manager as well.
Of course, the giantkilling didn't happen, but it nearly did. What struck me about the game was that both sets of players played their part in making it a spectacle, a superb end to end 'proper' cup tie, evoking the finest traditions of English football. Also surprising, was the appearance of an unlikely 12th man. In my previous visit to the Stadiummk, merely 5,000 fans had bothered to make the journey from the surrounding towns and villages. Today however, Milton Keynes had bizarrely managed to acquire about 10,000 extra fans for this tie, and the stadium was nearly full to capacity and boasted a record attendance of 19,508.
MK were well up for this tie, and wasted no time in taking the game to the London outfit, controlling the midfield, and had a goal disallowed in the first 10 minutes. QPR by contrast, looked like a team who were struggling big time. Warnock had made some pre match excuses by suggesting that he wouldn't be able to field a full strength side anyway, but even so, it was a team containing Manchester United striker Macheda, experienced first team players in Luke Young and Shaun Derry. If they had wanted to win, surely they could have.
In the end however, it was left to the home side to turn on the quality, creating chances left right and centre, If there was a criticism of MK, it was merely that they were trying to walk the ball into the net, often playing one pass too many instead of taking a shot at goal. It came as no surprise then, when their talismanic striker Dean Bowditch put them ahead in the second half. MK were flying, the stadium was rocking and even at only 1-0 with over 20 minutes to play, it seemed a foregone conclusion. A fact embellished by the injury to Faurlin, which left QPR having to finish with 10 men after using their subs. QPR were so bad that at one stage, their own fans were mimicking the home fans taunts of 'Premier league, you're having a laugh'.
Enter MK Dons goalkeeper, David Martin.
Two minutes from time, as a long ball came hurtling towards him, Martin committed an error that even Peter Enckelman would have been proud. Running out of his box, Martin failed to deal with the long ball, which fell to the onrushing Helguson, who then dispatched it into an empty net. Two minutes from a memorable giantkilling. A million miles away from everything they had worked so hard for in the previous 88 minutes.
For Dons fans, it was such a cruel end to a totally enthralling cup tie. For Rangers fans, a chance to take the Dons back to Loftus Road for the replay for which they will surely fancy their chances in front of a home crowd. Back in August when I started this blog, I wondered what it would be like to get down to London for a midweek replay. This time next week i'll be finding out.
No comments:
Post a Comment