MK Dons 1-4 Wednesday

Wednesday brought a worrying week off the field to an end in superb fashion on the pitch as Neil Mellor bagged a hat-trick to guide the Owls to a thumping 4-1 victory at MK Dons in npower League One.

Wednesday’s High Court hearing on Wednesday resulted in a 28-day adjournment, good news in the short-term, and the eleven men on the pitch for the Owls played magnificently to end the Dons’ unbeaten home league record.

Mellor led the rout with his second hat-trick of the season, while a Luke Chadwick own goal condemned the hosts to a heavy defeat, despite Karl Robinson’s men taking the lead after just seven minutes through Mark Carrington.

Owls boss Alan Irvine made three changes to the side that beat Rochdale last weekend.

Arron Jameson was given his first league start in goal after Nicky Weaver was ruled out through injury, while Darren Potter replaced the suspended Giles Coke and Chris Sedgwick returned to the first team to replace to James O’Connor, who was missing due to his wife giving birth.

The last week will have been an extremely long one for Wednesday players, staff and supporters alike given the off-the-field matters, but Wednesday started the game brightly, taking the game to their hosts.

The Owls had started the game better than the Milton Keynes side, but they fell behind after just six minutes with the hosts first real attack of the game.

Karl Robinson’s men, who have a great record on home soil so far this season forced their first bit of pressure on the Wednesday goal and Mark Carrington was left in acres of space to step forward and side-foot the ball into the back of the net for the opener.

Tommy Miller had a half-chance to get Wednesday on terms minutes later but it was Dons who were on top and Jameson was forced into a superb save to deny the hosts a second.

The Owls gradually got their way back into the game following the set-back and should have been on level terms after 20 minutes when Clinton Morrison had a great opportunity to equaliser but saw his close-range effort brilliantly saved by Dons stopper David Martin.

And from the resulting Tommy Spurr corner Sedgwick blasted the ball towards goal and it took a deflection off Neil Mellor and somehow found its way into the arms of the goalkeeper.

Wednesdayites could sense an equaliser was coming and it came in the 23rd minute when Neil Mellor netted his tenth goal of the season.

It was the move of the match so far and got the Owls what was a deserved equaliser after gradually working their way back into the game.

The Owls had the momentum and they turned the game on its head on 28 minutes when they took the lead and sent the large travelling contingent of Wednesdayites barmy behind the goal.

Gary Teale drove towards goal and crossed into the danger area, where Luke Chadwick headed the ball into his own goal to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

The game hit a bit of a lull following Wednesday’s second, but Jameson was kept on his toes minutes before half-time when Lewis Guy stung his hands with a fine long-range effort.

The hosts finished the half the slightly stronger of the two sides but never tested Jameson before half-time.

Half-Time: MK Dons 1-2 Wednesday

Wednesday shaded the early stages of the second half and saw a penalty appeal fall on deaf ears after Neil Mellor looked to have been felled inside the box.

Clinton Morrison also came close to connecting to a loose ball in attack.

MK Dons had their first real opportunity 13 minutes after the restart from a free-kick, but they failed to test Jameson as Peter Leven curled an effort high over the bar.

Lewis Guy, introduced in the first-half from the bench for the hosts, was a a threat for the Dons and he forced Jameson into a save at the second time of asking.

Wednesday had a good chance to make it 3-1 on the counter-attack when Gary Teale took the ball on the break and was clean through, but his first touch let him down and allowed the defender get back to get the block in.

The Owls’ third wasn’t far from coming though and Teale made amends for his lack of composure minutes before by producing a top-drawer cross for Mellor to drill in his second and put a two-goal gap between the teams with 18 minutes to go.

The hosts made a double substitution as Karl Robinson looked to change the flow of the game to get the hosts back into the contest.

But it did little to halt Wednesday’s domination of the game, mirrored with the 3,000-plus Wednesdayites bouncing up and down behind the goal.

The Dons, although enjoying their fair share of possession, never really troubled Arron Jameson in goal and the Owls defence were relatively comfortable on their lead.

Wednesday were showing no signs of slowing down in attack and grabbed their fourth with seven minutes to go when Mellor completed his hat-trick with a bullet header from a Spurr cross.

It prompted a mass departure from Stadium:mk by the home support and gave the travelling Owls fans, who’ve endured a torrid time this week, plenty to shout about.

Wednesday made all three changes in the last ten minutes with Marcus Tudgay first coming on to replace Sedgwick before Mellor and Miller were brought off for Paul Heffernan and Liam Palmer respectively.

The hard-working Morrison was looking for a goal for his efforts and he came inches short of connecting to a Teale cross with three minutes to go.

It didn’t matter though as Wednesday put in their performance of the season to rack up three vital points.

Full-Time: MK Dons 1-4 Wednesday