by Pitchfork » Mon Apr 01, 2019 11:20 am
Forest Green Rovers vs. MK Dons
By Sebastian Morris, our ambassador at DEER PARK SCHOOL
30th March 2019
The Green Devils hosted Buckinghamshire side MK Dons in an afternoon fixture on 30th March 2019.It was a sunny afternoon, perfect for a top of the table clash, as three points would be crucial for both sides.
The players came out with a huge roar from all the supporters, excited to see two of the top sides in League Two.Just before the match started, there was a minute’s applause for the sad passing of FGR’s previous chairman, Trever Horsley.
The match had a slow start, Forest Green maintaining possession and passing the ball about, but still yet to find a real attacking chance. With neither keeper having much action in the first half an hour, it was beginning to look like a goalless half.It was a game of cat and mouse, FGR had the ball, playing it safe, and MK Dons chasing it, keeping it out of the key attacking areas of their half.
But shortly after the 35-minute mark, came the first goal of the game. It was a silly mistake from the back, as Gavin Gunning lost the ball carelessly to David Wheeler who quickly gave it to Keirin Agard who got the ball past the keeper and into the bottom left corner.
This meant Forest Green had just over fifty minutes of the game to recover the position.
Right at the end of the first half, centre back Farrend Rawson committed a bad foul, and received a yellow card, meaning he would have to tread carefully for the rest of this game.
Half time came with the score FGR 0, MK Dons 1. Mark Cooper’s side needed a goal to revive this game, and they would only have 45 minutes to do it.As the players came back onto the pitch, they knew the FGR fans believed they could do it, and so the 2nd half began.
It certainly wasn’t a dull match but not an action-packed match. In the early stages of the second half Forest Green had a few counter attacking opportunities but were hardly worrying the MK Dons keeper.
However, the game wasn’t over yet, with still over half an hour to come back and in the 63rd minute, that became more than a possibility when Liam Shephard whipped a top-class cross to George Williams, whose header guided the ball into the net. The keeper could do nothing about it, by the time he saw it, Forest Green players were wheeling off, celebrating the amazing goal!
Now, The Rovers were going for the win, as they put dangerous attacker Dayle Grubb onto the field, clearly striking fear into the opposition as they saw him come onto the pitch.Chances then started to appear at both ends, with MK Dons having the clearer opportunities.
With 5 minutes of normal time left, and both sides going for glory, it seemed likely there would be a winning goal.
After Lewis Ward punched a corner away, it fell to opposition feet, the Rovers defenders couldn’t stop the cross into the box, and the ball ended at the feet of Russel Martin, at the back post, who had an easy chance to win the game for his side, and he took it. Giving FGR less than five minutes to score once more to salvage a point.However, it was too little time to build any pressure and several attempts to get the ball into the MK Dons box lead to nothing, and the referee blew his whistle for the last time, leaving Forest Green in despair after a good performance, but I have to say the score was about right for the game today.
All that we can now is move on to the next game, knowing a play-off place is still in our own hands.