MK Dons pip Mansfield to last automatic promotion place

Posted Sunday, May 05, 2019 by PA

MK Dons beat Mansfield 1-0 at Stadium MK to leapfrog the Stags and claim the third and final automatic promotion place in League Two.

David Wheeler struck after just two first half minutes before the Dons saw out a further 88, earning Paul Tisdale’s side promotion to League One at the first time of asking.

The Dons took the lead after just two minutes when Dean Lewington’s corner was met by Wheeler unmarked inside the Mansfield box, before the QPR loanee headed emphatically past Mansfield keeper Conrad Logan – his fourth Dons goal of the season

Tisdale’s side should have doubled their lead midway through the first half when Kieran Agard’s cut-back across the six-yard box found Chuks Aneke, whose first-time effort was cleared off the line by Stags defender Ben Turner.

Logan made a superb save to deny MK frontman Agard in the 66th minutes to keep the Stags in it, before David Flitcroft’s side were themselves denied when Russel Martin cleared Jorge Grant’s deflected cross off the line to keep things at 1-0.

Despite the Stags throwing bodies forward late on, they could not find a way through a resolute Dons defensive display. Flitcroft’s side will face Newport County in the play-offs.