League One: Wycombe Wanderers 3-3 MK Dons

A scintillating second-half saw MK Dons come from 2-0 to salvage a point against Wycombe Wanderers, drawing 3-3 at Adams Park.

Trailing to Dan Casey and Ewan Henderson goals for the hosts before the break, but a remarkable turnaround saw goals from Aaron Collins, Callum Paterson and Curtis Nelson put Dons 3-2 up by in eight second-half minutes, before the dangers Jayden Wareham snatched a leveller for the Chairboys with 16 minutes to go.

After the poor showing in the week against Wigan, which saw Paul Warne make three changes to his side for the first time this season, he pulled all three back into the side for the game at Wycombe. Back came Gethin Jones, Marvin Ekpiteta and Aaron Collins while there was a first start for skipper Alex Gilbey after a couple of substitute appearances this term. While Charlie Goode missed out on the squad, Jack Sanders, Ben Wiles and Callum Paterson dropped to the bench.

The changes though did not seem to bring an improvement in Dons’ fortunes as they were sloppy out of the box, and found themselves trailing after 10 minutes to a routine set-piece when Dan Casey headed the Chairboys in front.

Going behind seemed to wake Dons up, with a few more passages of play beginning to threaten to undo Wycombe’s defence, but the visitors’ finishing let them down. Collins had half-rounded keeper Conor Hazard before firing wide, while Alex Gilbey’s left-footed strike was dealt with by the shot-stopper. Sam Nombe also finally got a shot off after going four games without a clear-cut chance, with Hazard saving well with his feet.

There were scares at the other end too though, with new signing Jayden Wareham proving troublesome for both Ekpiteta and Nelson, getting in behind and lifting the ball over MacGillivray but seeing it drop wide.

Wycombe did not need another invitation to take a chance when it came along, doubling their lead on 31 minutes when Ewan Henderson flashed an effort through MacGillivray’s dive.

Looking lost heading into the break though, three goals in eight second-half minutes would turn the game entirely on its head.

Dan Crowley and Callum Paterson were introduced to the action at the interval and both would play key parts in the turnaround for Dons. It was Crowley’s pass which freed Collins to lash in a peach of a strike to pull one back five minutes into the half.

And five minutes later, Collins was once again on the end of a Crowley pass, this time he crossed for Paterson to poke him from just a couple of yards out to level.

The turnaround was complete three minutes later when Paterson brilliantly beat two on the edge of the box, finding Crowley to cross for Nelson to head Dons into a 3-2 lead which had looked unlikely just ten minutes earlier.

Shellshocked, Wycombe took ten minutes to get their heads around what had happened to them, but when they did, they began to show some of the attacking threat they showed in the first-half.

Wareham proved a handful for Ekpiteta all afternoon, and when Silko Thomas picked up on a loose pass on the left, the Wycombe front man just got in front of his marker to steer it around MacGillivray to level things up with 16 minutes to go.

It could have gone either way in the closing stages, with both keepers called into action, with ex-Dons loanee Emre Tezgel forcing a save from MacGillivray while Crowley flicked a stoppage time header just wide of the mark as both sides had to settle for a draw.

Referee: Stephen Martin

Attendance:

Wycombe Wanderers: Hazard, Boyd-Munce, Woodrow (Scowen 79), Wareham, Casey, Henderson, Parker (Tezgel 71), Taylor, Mothersille (Thomas 60), Onyedinma, Hagelskjaer

Subs not used: Van Sas, Morley, Cook, Keita

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Jones, Ekpiteta, Nelson, Barnett (Paterson 46), Bramall, Barlaser (Crowley 46), Wintle, Gilbey (Silvera 71), Collins (Wiles 71), Nombe

Subs not used: Dennis, Matete, Sanders

Booked: Gilbey, Collins, Ekpiteta