Dons think it’s all over
... but lucky Burnley break their hearts
BURNLEY needed a controversial last-gasp equaliser and penalties to avoid a second FA Cup giant-killing in four years.
Humiliated at home by nonLeague Lincoln in 2017, they were destined for elimination to a side 44 rungs below t hem i n English football’s ladder until Matej Vydra slid in to finally find a way past the outstanding Lee Nicholls in goal.
It was harsh on MK Dons, though they went ahead completely against the run of play through Cameron Jerome’s clinical finish just shy of the half-hour mark.
Not least because, according to Dons boss Russell Martin, fourth official Geoff Eltringham informed him time was up before Robbie Brady launched the free-kick into the penalty area for substitute Vydra to pounce.
Martin’s attempts to discuss his grievances with referee Jon Moss after the final whistle led to the visiting manager being sent off.
‘We were told it was game over, it was done. I wanted to have a conversation with him but I was waved away twice and that’s why I ended up frustrated,’ Martin said. ‘I didn’t make a personal comment but he decided to send me to the stands.’
The Dons manager therefore witnessed Phil Bardsley drill Burnley’s fifth and final penalty into the bottom corner from 20 rows back.
It was hardly the kind of performance to have Burnley’s new owners ALK Capital salivating, but it was in keeping with the never-say-die attitude Sean Dyche has instilled.
‘One of our big things has been going until the very last minute,’ Dyche said.
In truth, Burnley should have been out of sight before Jerome stooped to plant a diving header back across debutant goalkeeper Will Norris and into the far corner from a Stephen Walker cross touched on by Scott Fraser.
Ashley Barnes, who drew the first save of the game inside 60 seconds, ran half the length of the field after robbing Dean Lewington in the 11th minute but was foiled by Nicholls.
And they should have been level by the break — James Tarkowski somehow failed to turn the ball into an empty net despite having two stabs at it, while Chris Wood headed wide from Bardsley’s cross.
‘I told the strikers at half-time that if I put pressure on the defenders to defend then they should face the same when it comes to scoring goals. We created lots of good chances,’ Dyche added.
They might have been a man up by the interval when Moss dismissed Richard Keogh for handball, only for a VAR reprieve after replays showed a tug on his arm in an aerial challenge with Wood.
Cruelly, Keogh’s next big involvement came in the dying embers of normal time, when an aerial challenge with Burnley substitute Joel Mumbongo bobbled the ball into the six-yard box, from where Vydra squeezed it home.
Ben Gladwin struck the outside of the post with an effort that could have settled things in Dons’ favour in extra-time before Bardsley had the final word.