Bluebirds take flight to condemn sorry Dons

By Charles Crook

MK DONS 0

MK DONS: Trueman 5, Sanders 6, Offord 5, Maguire 6, O’Reilly 6 (Leko 77, 6), Lemonheigh-Evans 6, Thompson-Sommers 6 (Orsi-Dadomo 68, 6), Tomlinson 6 (Nemane 67, 6), Crowley 7, Gilbey 6, Hogan 6. Subs not used: MacGillivray, Kelly, Tripp, Waller.

BARROW 3

Pressley 16, 57, Smith 90+3

BARROW: Stanway 8, Foley 8 (Barnes 69, 6), Canavan 8, Cameron 6, Jackson 6, Campbell 7 (Kouyate 90+6), Gotts 7, Newby 6, Mahoney 7 (Smith 69, 7), Fletcher 8 (Whitfield 68, 6), Pressley 9 (Acquah 69, 6). Subs not used: Farman.

Att: 6,585 Rating: ★★★★★ Ref: Jamie O’Connor 6/10

BARROW boss Andy Whing was pleased to see his side beat MK Dons despite feeling they didn’t deliver their greatest performance.

Aaron Pressley gave Barrow a first half lead, before doubling his tally in the opening stages of the second half.

A late third by sub Tyler Smith confirmed the Bluebirds would be victorious, as they claimed a first win in three and mathematically confirmed survival.

Despite picking up the three points in Buckinghamshire, Bluebirds boss Whing felt there were plenty of elements with his side’s general performance that they could’ve done better.

He said: “To be honest, I didn’t think we were overly great – I thought it’s probably one of the poorest we’ve been really in recent weeks.

“But I’ve said we have to be more clinical and ruthless and we were today. When we had a chance, we were ruthless and scored.

“It was a strange game with a strange feeling around the stadium. I don’t think we were overly great or the game was great.

“We got the job done and there were some decent performances within that.

“Our shape was pretty good, but I just thought we were a bit too passive today.”

MK Dons had an early opportunity as Jack Sanders was denied by keeper Wyll Stanway.

Barrow then took the lead in the 16th minute, with Pressley heading in Connor Mahoney’s cross.

Kyle Cameron side-footed narrowly wide for the visitors, before Barrow keeper Stanway made saves to deny Scott Hogan and Tommi O’Reilly, and Conor Lemonheigh-Evans had a goal disallowed for offside.

Pressley doubled Barrow’s lead ten minutes after the break, as he received Isaac Fletcher’s pass, ran through and beat Connal Trueman. The visitors duly kept MK Dons at arm’s length for most of the second half, before Smith tapped in Ben Whitfield’s cross in stoppage time for a third.

MK Dons’ caretaker boss Ben Gladwin was left to reflect on a miserable week, with his side having suffered three consecutive defeats and conceded ten goals along the way.

He said: “Something’s going to have shift because there’s still five games left and a lot of football still to be played.

“Because of the context of how the season is going and the current state of the group, it just feels horrendous.”