Checkatrade Trophy progress for Dons after Oxford thriller
MK Dons advanced as group winners in the Checkatrade Trophy after winning a 4-3 thriller away at fellow League One side Oxford United.
After goalkeeper Wieger Sietsma made two fine stops, the Dons took an early lead through Brandon Thomas-Asante when he turned the ball home at an MK Dons corner.
A busy opening saw both sides create then duly waste chances before Oxford scored two goals in quick succession to take the lead. First, the ball was played for Jack Payne evaded a slipping marker before racing through and equalise.
Payne then had a second when he scored a penalty after a foul by Dean Lewington on former Dons attacker Rob Hall. But the away side would respond with a quickfire double of their own.
Both strikes came from Gboly Ariyibi. His first saw him played through by Robbie Muirhead before finishing, and then he exchanged passes with Thomas-Asante before firing past Simon Eastwood.
The second half was not played at the same frenetic pace, but would still yield two more goals. Oxford struck first as ex-Don Hall added to his strike in the League One game at stadium:mk by cutting inside and beating Sietsma.
But less than a minute later, Ryan Seager combined with Peter Pawlett before striking the ball in to strike what turned out to be the game’s crucial goal.
The result means that the Dons book their place in the next round of the competition as group winners.