First-half horror show costs Dons dearly in defeat to Grimsby Town

A catastrophic opening 36 minutes at Stadium MK ensured ten-man MK Dons suffered a second consecutive defeat, losing 3-2 to Grimsby Town.

Kieran Green and Jaze Kabia converted from close range in the opening 23 minutes to give the Mariners a 2-0 lead before a stunner from Charles Vernam looked to put the game beyond reach. Jon Mellish was then shown a red card to compound Dons’ misery before half-time.

Dons found themselves with an unlikely lifeline when George McEachran chested past his own keeper a couple of minutes into the second-half, before Connor Lemonheigh-Evans thrashed in a second in the final minute.

New signing Kane Wilson was put straight into the side as Paul Warne made two changes to his side. Scott Hogan also made his first start of the campaign, as Will Collar dropped to the bench and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was out on international duty.

It meant Dons lined up in an old-fashioned 4-4-2, but that formation got horribly exposed in a dismal first-half which saw Dons not only three goals down, but also a man down too.

The visitors scored the opener after nine minutes when Kieran Green tapped in Charles Vernam’s cross from close range, when until then, Dons had made a decent fist of the opening exchanges.

Trailing though, Grimsby started to expose the holes in Dons’ midfield and poured forwards with relative ease. The hosts rode their luck when Craig MacGillivray made a couple of important stops, but there was little the keeper could do when in almost a carbon copy of the opener, Jaze Kabia tapped in on 23 minutes to double the Mariners’ advantage.

With the wind in their sails, Vernam unleashed an unstoppable effort into the top corner to make it 3-0 to Grimsby inside the opening half-an-hour.

With Dons being overrun and out-numbered all over the pitch, Warne tried to switch things up by replacing Offord with Aaron Nemane, but those changes barely had time to settle before Jon Mellish caught Kabia with a high-boot, earning him an early bath with a straight red card nine minutes before the interval.

A further change at the break saw Connor Lemonheigh-Evans replacing Hogan, and within a couple of minutes of the restart, Dons had a glimmer of hope when George McEachran, brother of former Dons midfielder Josh, chested past keeper Christy Pym to draw one back for the hosts.

While it gave the game an air of potential for a few minutes, Grimsby ultimately took all the sting out of it by simply keeping hold of the ball for long spells.

Dons struggled to build up anything of a head of steam, with hopeful long-balls towards Hepburn-Murphy giving the former Crawley man little to do but chase.

In the dying embers of the game, Lemonheigh-Evans popped up at the far post to lash in Dons’ second to set up an unlikely finale, but despite sending MacGillivray forwards at the death, a Jack Sanders overhead kick landed on the roof of the net, bringing with it Dons’ second defeat in as many games.

Referee: Oliver Mackey

Attendance: 7,758 (1,188)

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Mellish, Wilson (Collar 72), Ekpiteta, Sanders, Offord (Nemane 35), Kelly (Crowley 78), Gilbey, Hepburn-Murphy (Leko 78), Hogan (Lemonheigh-Evans 46), Paterson

Subs not used: Trueman, Medwyinter

Grimsby Town: Pym, Sweeney, McJannet, Warren, Rodgers, McEachran, Green, Khouri, Burns (Eccleston 89), Vernam (Soonsup-Bell 72), Kabia (Rose 83)

Subs not used: Auton, Odour, Amaluzor, Brown

Booked: Offord, Kelly, Crowley

Sent off: Mellish