The Dons and the Black Cats share the spoils in an enthralling encounter

MK Dons and Sunderland both leave Stadium MK with a point after an enthralling match, ending 2-2.

Promotion-pushing Sunderland and relegation-escaping MK Dons played out a fantastic game that saw four goals, a clear penalty dismissed and two red card offences waved away.

An early goal from Charlie Wyke gave the visitors the lead before home goals from Joe Mason and Cameron Jerome earned MK the half-time advantage. A second-half Luke O’Nien finish before the chaos ensued saw the points shared.

The match got off to a thunderous start with three goals inside the opening 20 minutes. Charlie Wyke, the 28-year-old striker who is currently in red-hot form, broke the deadlock for the visitors.

After a hopeful ball into the area from Aiden McGeady, the pass was well controlled by Wyke and he duly fired home from inside the box past a diving Andrew Fisher in the Dons’ goal. It was the game’s first chance after five minutes and the home side did not have to wait long to equalise.

Just three minutes later, Mason levelled the scoreline. Off the back of good work from a Matt O’Riley short corner, he twisted and turned away from his marker before firing a venomous low ball across the face of goal, almost being fired home by Jerome.

The resultant second phase of play saw the ball reach Scott Fraser on the edge of the area and the Scotsman’s left-footed shot was well saved by Lee Burge in the visitor’s goal. The saved effort dropped to Jerome whose blocked effort, in turn, fell to Mason who stabbed home for his fifth goal of the season.

It was not long later that the home side took the lead with Jerome this time scoring from close range. The 34-year-old striker who was the subject to a deadline day bid from an unnamed Championship club, scored the home side’s second after great work down the right-wing by Manchester United loanee Ethan Laird.

Laird, cut inside and laid off the ball to O’Riley, who from the edge of the box struck a low through ball for Jerome to pounce on and fire home his tenth goal of the season.

The Black Cats could have been level entering half-time but for a rush of blood to the head by Charlie Wyke, who blazed over from the edge of the area when he really should have done better. Despite scoring 17 already this season, he will not want to watch back the replay of that!

It only took ten minutes of second-half action for Sunderland to grab an equaliser and it came about rather fortuitously for the visitors.

A short corner was taken to Aiden McGeady, who was given all the time in the world by the men in white with no defender deciding to close him down.

The Irishman then unleashed a low, scuffed effort on goal but it was going harmlessly wide until it fell at the feet of Luke O’Nien. The midfielder could not believe his luck and dispatched a left-footed finish into the bottom corner past a diving Fisher.

Sunderland should have been reduced to ten men midway through the second half after O’Nien cynically scythed down Laird.

Already on a yellow card and with his foul halting a dangerous-looking attack, it felt inevitable that the Black Cats would lose their second goalscorer. Inexcusably, referee Tom Nield just gave O’Nien a talking over, to the bemusement and anger of the home side’s technical area.

There were chances for both sides to grab a winner, but if either side were likely to grab a winner it would have been the visitors.

There were chances for McGeady, Wyke and substitute Chris Maguire that went begging and they really should have had a penalty after Harry Darling clearly handballed in the area. After waving away the shouts, Lee Johnson and his players were all left stunned and let their frustrations boil over.

With five minutes of injury time being signalled, it was MK’s turn to see the forgiving nature of the referee work in their favour, overlooking a blatant foul by Andrew Surman to stop a promising counter-attack. Referee Nield simply awarded a free-kick which caused manager Johnson again to start spitting feathers.

With almost the final kick of the match, McGeady found himself clean through with only Fisher in front of him and from inside the area his effort seemed goal-bound, only denied by a remarkable save from the MK Dons goalkeeper.

After the full-time whistle, both sets of players felt aggrieved after not taking all three points from the match and openly shared their dismay with the performance of the referee. It was clear that Nield lost control of the match at the end and as a result made many questionable decisions throughout.

This draw means MK Dons remain 16^th in the League One with 32 points after 26 games, whilst Sunderland fall out of the Play-Off places and sit seventh with 41 points to their name, having played 25 matches this season.

MK Dons: Andrew Fisher (GK), Dean Lewington (C), Zak Jules (Daniel Harvie 60’), Harry Darling, Scott Fraser, Ethan Laird, Warren O’Hora, Matt O’Riley, Joe Mason (Charlie Brown 72’), Louis Thompson (Andrew Surman 43’), Cameron Jerome.

Goals: Mason (9’), Jerome (19’)

Bookings: Jerome, Laird, Surman.

Unused Subs: Lee Nicholls, Lasse Sørensen, Matthew Sorinola, Lewis Johnson.

Sunderland: Lee Burge (GK), Jordan Willis, Bailey Wright, Max Power (C), Charlie Wyke, Aiden O’Brien (Chris Maguire 84’), Lynden Gooch (Jordan Jones 68’), Luke O’Nien (Josh Scowen 77’), Grant Leadbitter, Aiden McGeady, Jake Vokins (Dion Sanderson 84’).

Goals: Wyke (5’), O’Nien (56′)

Bookings: O’Nien, Leadbitter, Power, Scowen.

Unused Subs: Remi Matthews, Jack Diamond, Daniel Neill.

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