Milton Dons will be Keen to tame The Whites. V Milton Keynes away Tues 13th Sept. 7-45.

[boltonboris]

They were bad to be fair, Bruce. Shadow of the team they had. Slow, lethargic and unimaginative. Dare I say, relegation fodder

[Harry Genshaw]

Also, think we were level with the points we'd got from the corresponding games last season before tonight (with Port Vale substituted for Crewe), so nice to be 3 points up!

When the wheels fell of last year we were looking to bring in Gordon, Delfouenso and Brockbank as cover. How nice to have much stronger options available this year.

Still room for improvement but a clean sheet and an away win is always great.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

They were bad to be fair, Bruce. Shadow of the team they had. Slow, lethargic and unimaginative. Dare I say, relegation fodder

I mean, I did try to tell y'all in summer – and again yesterday

Their goals conceded per game isn't actually that much worse than last season. What they're not doing is scoring. Losing their baller Twine would be bad enough but if you also subtract loanee Troy Parrott and all the rest, they've really lost all fire power.

It's also interesting that they play a similar possession style to us. And when that style doesn't work it looks powder-puff tippy-tappy.

Can't say I was blown away by Jack Tucker either - in fact I was more taken with Zak Jules on the other side of their defence, but we're well stocked for left-footers now.

My old mate Insano raises a fair point that their inability to adapt to player losses over the summer are a warning. I think there’s also a fair comparison between Twine and Darling for them and Dapo and Santos for us.

We went into summer worrying we might lose either or both; we lost neither, which is a quiet tribute to continuity, but even if we had, neither has exactly led the charge this season – which has given other squad members a chance to step up. (Whether they have or not is a different question.)

Besides, succession planning is in place: I still think Dapo’s replacement is Sadlier, and I think they hope Rico’s is Toal. Perhaps MK thought Tucker was their new Darling. Maybe they thought Twine could be replaced by Matt Dennis, but judging by last night they may as well have hired Les Dennis.

[officer_dibble]

Agreed with all of that…Tucker, was he identified before Toal? Not impressed, but maybe he’s a potential thrown in? Agreed on Joules but Johnston really looking the part now - if anything Gethin now the defender most likely to be upgraded? Or Santos…None of their midfield were in the game really - Matt Smith who I thought was a giant Centre forward pre match was a bit shite! On the face of it they will be down there unless they spend some cash in January.

[Bruce Rioja]

Matt Smith who I thought was a giant Centre forward pre match was a bit shite!

Here comes another Barnet I-told-you-so-ism

[Prufrock]

Tbf there is a massive target man Matt Smith in this division, but he's at Sheff W (signed from Rotherham).

[Prufrock]

they are very very bad but we were proper and comfortable.

They were very bad, but while I'd like to have seen us go for the jugular, it was v nice to be so comfortable. Up the mighty whites.

I didn't see the game last night and I still haven't seen the highlights, but these are the kind of comments which are raising my eyebrows.

See, in the corresponding fixture last year it was probably the only defeat of ours after which I thought - absolutely no complaints there. We weren't bad, they were simply better.

I managed to read some of the comments on here (generally telling of Charles having a nightmare) in the first half, but when I saw the final result, my immediate thoughts were - Brilliant, we've beaten a team who were clearly better than us last season and was hoping that it might be a marker as to how far we've come, as opposed to by how much they've dropped off.

Were they really that bad?

They were bad to be fair, Bruce. Shadow of the team they had. Slow, lethargic and unimaginative. Dare I say, relegation fodder

Aye, agree with Boris. I was at the game last year too and they were very good that day. They haven't changed what they are trying to do, at all, but they don't have the personnel for it.

Partly we were better at the press, but they still carried on and got into decent positions, but last year they had punch, pace and movement and people flying all over running in behind. They've still got Eisa (who's a complete twunt but a good player) but that's about it. Will Grigg got in a couple of times first half but he's so slow by the time he'd had a touch he had to go back out.

Not sure if their RWB played last year but he was godawful. I don't think they'll go down, as there will be plenty teams they'll beat at home who can't get the ball off them, but they look miles away from top 6.

It was a really good performance and result, but I'm not sure how instructive it is. Despite the chants of "how shit must you be, we're winning away?" that's as close to a home game as we'll get away from the uni bol. Big stadium, nice big pitch, no real home support. And not many teams are as committed to playing out from the back.

I've said part of the problem we have trying to press high in this system is transitions, if you commit everyone up and they stick it in the channel, how do the WBs get back. McDons were never going to do that so we could just keep going.

Still, a very good win!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Matt Smith who I thought was a giant Centre forward pre match was a bit shite!

Here comes another Barnet I-told-you-so-ism

MK's Matt Smith is the fella who was Doctor Who.

Only joking, but he's from Man City, so it was a surprise to see he was so bang-average.

[TANGODANCER]

Just one small worry. Against a team supposedly this bad, why did we only win 2-0 and one of those a penalty? That's what the records will show, but the amount of opportunities missed ( I go off just here and Illes's commentary?) leaves some small worry that against better teams, small margins are the difference and if (if) the Dons had been such a one, well, bluntly, not having as many opportunities,we may have lost. Yes, we netted three offside goals, but how many did we actually miss that should have been got? (I'm a rose-tinter, don't forget)..

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Tucker, was he identified before Toal? Not impressed, but maybe he’s a potential thrown in?

Tucker's played a lot more games than Toal, 100-odd third-tier. He may well come good but MK had the look of a failing team last night.

[Worthy4England]

Just one small worry. Against a team supposedly this bad, why did we only win 2-0 and one of those a penalty? That's what the records will show, but the amount of opportunities missed ( I go off just here and Illes's commentary?) leaves some small worry that against better teams, small margins are the difference and if (if) the Dons had been such a one, well, bluntly, not having as many opportunities,we may have lost. Yes, we netted three offside goals, but how many did we actually miss that should have been got? (I'm a rose-tinter, don't forget)..

On another day - Kacha's penalty shout is given, Thomason's shot from the angle isn't well saved, Charles second half shot isn't well saved, Iredale's headed doesn't hit the post and goes in 0-6...that's without some decent half chances...

[officer_dibble]

Tbf there is a massive target man Matt Smith in this division, but he's at Sheff W (signed from Rotherham).

That’s the one! I didn’t have him down as playing the number ten role!

[officer_dibble]

Just one small worry. Against a team supposedly this bad, why did we only win 2-0 and one of those a penalty? That's what the records will show, but the amount of opportunities missed ( I go off just here and Illes's commentary?) leaves some small worry that against better teams, small margins are the difference and if (if) the Dons had been such a one, well, bluntly, not having as many opportunities,we may have lost. Yes, we netted three offside goals, but how many did we actually miss that should have been got? (I'm a rose-tinter, don't forget)..

On another day - Kacha's penalty shout is given, Thomason's shot from the angle isn't well saved, Charles second half shot isn't well saved, Iredale's headed doesn't hit the post and goes in 0-6...that's without some decent half chances...

I think if we had scored a third (either Charles which was a great save at 1-0 or the Iredale one) then we’d have scored a couple more as well…as it was we settled and they continued to huff and puff to little avail.

[Prufrock]

Yeah they're definitely was one eye going the other way. We got into good positions at 2-0 but took the safe option. Which is fine!

3-0, the handbrake comes off and it's probably a cricket score.

[jmjhb]

Tbf there is a massive target man Matt Smith in this division, but he's at Sheff W (signed from Rotherham).

That’s the one! I didn’t have him down as playing the number ten role!

That's Michael Smith. The striker Matt Smith is at Salford.

[brommers95]

Tbf there is a massive target man Matt Smith in this division, but he's at Sheff W (signed from Rotherham).

That’s the one! I didn’t have him down as playing the number ten role!

That's Michael Smith. The striker Matt Smith is at Salford.

Not to be confused with Arsenal's 21 year old Matt Smith who was on loan at Doncaster last season

[Prufrock]

Are there any Colin Bakers about these days?

[officer_dibble]

Tbf there is a massive target man Matt Smith in this division, but he's at Sheff W (signed from Rotherham).

That’s the one! I didn’t have him down as playing the number ten role!

That's Michael Smith. The striker Matt Smith is at Salford.

Not to be confused with Arsenal's 21 year old Matt Smith who was on loan at Doncaster last season

Not to be confused! That ship has sailed my friend.