Wycombe in charge against MK Dons in play-offs

Ryan Tafazolli and Sam Vokes were on target as Wycombe gave themselves a two-goal cushion to take to MK Dons in their League One play-off semi-final.

MK Dons had midfielder Josh McEachran sent off for two yellow cards in the space of seven minutes.

And after Jason McCarthy hit their crossbar from 20 yards, Vokes headed in Garath McCleary’s cross to make it two.

Both managers had the luxury of naming the same starting XI picked for their final games of the regular season – with Dons boss Liam Manning hoping to continue a trend that has seen the side finishing third win promotion via the play-offs in the past three seasons.

They looked the brighter side at the start and it took a superbly-timed block by Anthony Stewart to deny Scott Twine after David Kasumu cut the ball back to his side’s leading scorer before Troy Parrott curled a good opportunity past keeper David Stockdale, but also beyond the far post.

Wycombe, who ended the season with a 12-game unbeaten run including eight victories, had to wait half an hour for their first meaningful effort as Vokes’ header from an excellent McCleary cross forced Jamie Cumming into a diving save – a warning of what was to come in the second half.

It served to galvanise Gareth Ainsworth’s Chairboys and they went in front when Tafazolli rose to meet Joe Jacobson’s corner just three yards from goal despite being held by his marker – and it could have been two before the break only for Vokes to be ruled offside as he netted the rebound after Cumming pushed away Daryl Horgan’s outside-of-the-foot shot.

MK Dons beat Wycombe home and away in the league and also in the Papa Johns Trophy but found it hard to contain the strong-running Chairboys in front of a crowd of 8,987 as Jordan Obita shot straight at Cumming following the re-start, having been played in by Dominic Gape.

With two Wycombe players already in the book, tempers frayed after a foul on Kaine Kesler Hayden by Josh Scowen and Dons midfielder McEachran was shown a yellow card for his part in the pushing and shoving.

The former Brentford and Chelsea player’s evening got even worse seven minutes later when a late challenge on Scowen saw him sent off.

The Dons took 25 points during the season from losing positions but there was no way back on this occasion and Wycombe got the extra goal advantage their performance deserved as Vokes outjumped the defence to head his 17th of the season.

It was the Wales international’s final act, with Adebayo Akinfenwa sent on as a substitute just five days before his 40th birthday, and if they can defend their lead at Milton Keynes on Sunday, he could play the final game of his career against Sunderland or Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley on 21 May.

Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth told BBC Three Counties Radio:

“They’ve got this way of playing that’s very difficult to get to grips with because their movement’s so good, they’re such young boys with so much energy and great technique and willingness.

“We’re an older squad, there’s a lot of experience in there and I think we pulled on all that experience to learn, to adapt, to change slightly what we were doing.

“Once we started dominating the game, it was then about staying on top – and obviously the red card helps.

“But I would be a very naive guy to think that anything is done yet. This is half-time.”

MK Dons head coach Liam Manning told BBC Three Counties Radio:

“I was really pleased with the first 30 minutes, I thought we imposed our style, caused them problems, and created a couple of decent chances.

“Although you’re on top, Wycombe always carry that physical threat and you saw that with the first goal they scored.

“The goal knocked us a bit and we ended up trying to play their game too much, which we’re not going to win at.

“It’s really important we don’t sit around and feel sorry for ourselves, we’ve got a great opportunity going into the home leg on Sunday to reverse the score.”