MK Dons come from behind to brush aside Harrogate

MK Dons came from behind to beat Harrogate Town 4-1 at Stadium MK, moving up to second in the table in the process.

Tobias Brenan had put the visitors ahead, but Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, Luke Offord, Aaron Collins and Ben Wiles helped the Dons taste victory in front of a bumper crowd at their home ground.

Victory over the Sulphurites meant MK Dons elevated themselves to second in a very tight and competitive League Two table, where just two points separate the Dons from 5th place.

The contest was played on what MK Dons billed as their first community day, which saw thousands of tickets given away to supporters for free. The figure given was that over 23,500 fans attended, setting a new league record for a game at Stadium MK and the highest figure attending a match at the ground since a Carabao Cup tie against Liverpool in 2019.

MK Dons had arrived looking to extend an unbeaten run that they had extended to 10 League Two games after a last minute equaliser saw them draw with Cambridge last time out. They hosted a Harrogate team also in decent form, with the side from North Yorkshire unbeaten in their previous five.

With the visitors arriving in good form, they had some early running, with the first chance seeing Jack Evans denied by home keeper Craig MacGillivray.

Jon Mellish headed straight at Harrogate keeper Henry Gray in the home side’s first major opportunity of note, before Jack Sanders later had an effort go wide from a corner.

Harrogate continued to carry a threat, with Reece Smith having a shot blocked by Marvin Ekpiteta before Chanse Headman had an effort blocked at the consequent corner.

With 25 minutes on the clock, it would ultimately be Harrogate that grabbed the first goal of the game. Space opened up for Evans, who saw a deflected shot parried by MacGillivray. The ball duly ricocheted the way of Brenan, who got the ball home.

A few moments later, however, MK Dons equalised. Hepburn-Murphy was played through and the striker wriggled away from Liam Gibson before taking the shot. The effort was blocked by Gray, but it fell for Hepburn-Murphy to get a second strike and find the back of the net.

Alex Gilbey would see a shot kept out by Gray, before Collins would have a strike intercepted by a Harrogate defender as the hosts pressed in search of a goal to complete their turnaround.

MK Dons would duly do so right at the end of the first half. In the final one of the four added on, the hosts won a corner, and from Dan Crowley’s ball into the box, Offord got space to glance a header into the back of the net and put Paul Warne’s side ahead for the first time in the day.

Harrogate’s attacks were still causing the visitors problems, with Smith having a strike kept out by MacGillivray in the opening minutes of the second half, before Brenan walloped a shot over.

But MK Dons would find a way back into the contest six minutes after the break. The ball was worked to Collins, in space on the right hand side of the Harrogate penalty area. The Welshman cut inside before curling a fine strike beyond Gray’s grasp and into the back of the net.

Evans would again be denied by MacGillivray a few moments later, but the Dons maintained their pressure and made it four just after the hour.

The ball found Liam Kelly, who’d just come off the bench, and the midfielder picked out Wiles for a glancing header that found the back of the net.

Harrogate saw keeper Gray depart with an injury shortly after conceding the fourth of the match, and his replacement Sam Waller was called into action to make a great save to deny Gethin Jones.

But with the job done, the Dons were able to see out the contest at Stadium MK as they picked up the points and maintain an unbeaten run that stretches back to New Year’s Day, with Warne’s side now looking to get more points on the board when they visit Gillingham on Tuesday night.

MK Dons: MacGillivray – Sanders, Ekpiteta, Offord (Tomlinson 72) – Nemane (Jones 60), Wiles, Crowley (Kelly 60), Gilbey, Mellish – Collins (Leko 81), Hepburn-Murphy (Hogan 45)

Subs not used: Trueman, Lemonheigh-Evans

Goal: Hepburn-Murphy (29), Offord (45+5), Collins (51), Wiles (63)

Booked: Sanders

Harrogate: Gray (Waller 70) – Headman, Gibson (Faulkner 67), Heffernan, Slater – Morris, Evans – Duke-McKenna (Thomson 81), Smith, Brenan (Sutton 81) – Acquah (Bennett 67)

Subs not used: Burrell, Horton

Goal: Brenan (25)