AWAY THE GAS
BY DARREN STOBBS
A quick turnaround of consecutive away games meant a midweek trip to MK Dons in League 2 action.
We left The Mem at 2.00pm and headed along the M4 before taking the A roads up to Milton Keynes. I don’t mind these journeys, as it makes a difference to all the miles racked up on the motorway network to most away games.
We stopped off at Oxford services near the M40 for 40 minutes, before heading the Stadium MK, arriving at 5:15pm. Parking at MK Dons has always been at the upper end of pricing, but on this visit it was only £10 for coaches, which had to be sorted out at the stadium itself if you don’t have the app.
Once this was all sorted, the initial plan was to head for ‘The Inn On The Lake’, but I did find a nearer alternative, ‘Hotshots’, a 10 minute walk away. In past seasons the bar at the stadium, accessed from outside, always had a mixture of home and away fans, but on our last visit was for home fans only. This particular bar was very upmarket and you could see the money put into Stadium MK was certainly not done on the cheap.
However, we made our way across the industrial estate to find ‘Hotshots’ sports bar, which has a number of dart boards and pool tables. It’s a similar place to ‘Supreme Sports Lounge’ off The Feeder Road in Bristol.
‘Hotshots’ is situated amongst various industrial units/shops but once inside is much like any other sports bar. It was a busy venue, which were doing two burgers and free pool for £10 on Tuesday’s!
Drinks were of average prices, but beer was available in bottles, rather than on draught. Various food options were available and reasonably priced – which I wish I chosen, after what was to come!
We made our way back to the stadium, for which I read up that decent pizzas were on offer, however this turned out to be just the other side of the segregated area of the away end!
Although we were situated on the usual lower tier, for some unknown reason to us, the food kiosks were situated on the upper tier concourse, accessed by 2 flights of stairs!
While In the queue, I could see that the food options were very limited and one burger, tightly wrapped in foil and three hot dogs were left, 25 minutes before kick off! It didn’t look the greatest option and at £7.50p/£6 respectively that made my mind up. I asked if pies were on offer, but apparently it wasn’t busy enough for them! Bags of nuts were £2.50p and so I decided to just purchase a Bovril for £2.30p.
I was glad that I brought sandwiches for on the way and was looking forward to having them on the way back as well!
For such a superb stadium, the catering certainly let them down. Another thing to mention about the venue is with it only 20% full, the atmosphere is soulless and it gets the feeling you are at a reserve or pre-season match.
Kick off was soon upon us, and the match turned out to be one that Rovers were more than equal to our opponents. It was another missed opportunity in my view, after last Saturday at Salford.
MK Dons were no better than us and our performance was much better than in recent matches. They could argue they had the better chances in the match, slamming the underside of the crossbar and Brad Young saving superbly when left one on one. Cavegn missed a chance on the angle, hitting straight into the MK Dons goalie.
MK Dons should have been down to 10 men with a clear elbow in Senior’s face on the touchline, towards the end of the first half. It was the most blatant red card you could have seen (unless you were one of the officials!)
Then a minute later, with Senior off the pitch the player he would have been marking headed against the post. Paterson, who should have been given his marching orders, then soon got the only goal of the match. A low cross from former Rovers man Aaron Collins, and an easy tap in seven minutes into first half added time.
Half time was more entertaining than usual with a number of young Milton Keynes fans deciding to wind up the travelling Rovers fans, along with one older fan who should have known better!
The stewards calmed things down after chants of ‘You’ve got school in the morning’ and one lady steward waving her arms about telling the Gasheads not to sing it. It was all very funny half time entertainment!
For all our forward play in the second half, we didn’t really test their keeper. Tottenham Hotspur loanee, Yusuf Akhamrich, was excellent off the bench. He looked way too good for League 2 and may well turn out to be the best loan signing since Elliot Anderson under Joey Barton. It reminded me of when he got the ball – it looked like something was going to happen every time.
The excellent Clinton Mola was my man of the match and the choice of those on the Supporters Club coach as well.
Attendance: 6,503 with 454 Rovers fans.
We left the ground at 9:55pm, heading straight back to Bristol, arriving in Kingswood at 12:15am.
