DAVIS’ DOUBLE SETS UP STAGS
NIGEL Clough says the champagne must stay on ice despite an emphatic victory for his promotion-hunting Mansfield Town side at MK Dons.
The Stags are now five points clear of fourth-placed Dons having played a game fewer, meaning they can clinch a place in League One next season with a win over Accrington Stanley on Tuesday.
Two goals from Davis Keillor-Dunn plus goals from Elliott Hewitt and James Gale saw Town complete a season-defining comeback at Stadium MK.
“We’re just nearly there but not there yet,” said Clough. “The emotions are understandable at the end but we’re not there yet.
“We came set up in a certain way to sort of stop their four in midfield, then a mistake was made by Jordan (Bowery) and it changes the whole game.
We were OK at 0-0 just waiting to see how the game played, but then all of a sudden we had to change and we were probably better for it. We went a bit more like our old selves.
“I thought once we got in at half-time at 1-1, it felt a bit like the Notts County game away from home where we’ve conceded a goal, maybe a daft soft goal, but come on, it’s 1-1, let’s go on and win it.
“We got the goal within a few minutes, although it took us five or six efforts I think again to get it over the line. Then it’s a case of sitting in, breaking and restricting MK Dons as I think they are the best footballing side in the league.
“We’re not great believers in keeping the ball, we want to get further ahead and get third or fourth goals, and we did it again today.”
Max Dean put the Dons ahead, before Hewitt’s equaliser brought Mansfield level. Sub KeillorDunn then scored a double and Gale added a fourth.
The hosts took the lead when Dean outmuscled Bowery to meet a long ball and curl home a fine strike.
But Mansfield equalised on the half-hour as Hewitt tapped in from ex-Don Hiram Boateng’s cross.
The visitors completed their comeback just after the break. Keillor-Dunn and Boateng both had shots saved but Keillor-Dunn eventually prodded home amid a goalmouth scramble. MK Dons struggled to rally and the visitors duly wrapped up the win with two quickfire goals in the closing stages.
A breakaway move saw Keillor-Dunn outpace the backline to score, before he turned provider in stoppage time, setting up fellow sub Gale for a thumping fourth.
Dons boss Mike Williamson called a quick response from his side, who are faced with the toughest possible route in their bid for an immediate return to
the third tier. “My overriding thoughts are that they need congratulations,” he said.
“The course of that game summed up our season a little bit.
“I thought we started really well and we had a lot of control, but overall, I don’t think we did enough to win the game.
“It’s a humbling and it’s a tough one to take, but Mansfield deserve a lot of credit for that performance and what they’ve done over the course of the season. We know our reaction to defeats in the next game has been good and really positive but we’ve got to our habit no matter the momentum, opposition or stakes.”