Championship
MK DonsMilton Keynes Dons1BrentfordBrentford4

MK Dons 1-4 Brentford

Lasse Vibe goal
Lasse Vibe celebrates scoring Brentford's second goal against MK Dons

MK Dons' relegation from the Championship was confirmed when they were comfortably beaten by Brentford.

The Dons, who needed a win to keep alive faint hopes of survival in their first season in the second tier, were ahead when Nicky Maynard stabbed in.

But just three minutes later Sergi Canos curled in a superb equaliser.

Brentford's Lasse Vibe, Ryan Woods and Jake Bidwell struck in the second half to condemn Karl Robinson's side to League One football next year.

To have any hope of staying in the division, the Dons also needed at least one of Blackburn, Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Rotherham and Bristol City not to pick up a point on Saturday.

However, even when Maynard turned in a driven cross from the impressive Josh Murphy early on, they could not hold on to the lead for long.

Canos was allowed too much space on the edge of the area and struck past Cody Cropper, who has yet to record a clean sheet in 12 games this season.

Cropper was taken off at half-time with a shoulder injury, but replacement Charlie Burns - making only his second professional appearance - was beaten by Vibe and a superb strike from Ryan Woods.

MK Dons felt aggrieved when a late penalty claim was dismissed when Maynard appeared to be tugged back by Harlee Dean in the area, but soon after Bidwell whipped in a free-kick that evaded everyone to round off proceedings.

Robinson said at the start of the season that the Dons had a budget in the bottom three of the division, and, with only nine league wins, they join Charlton and Bolton in dropping to the third tier next term.

Meanwhile, Dean Smith's Bees have won five of their past six Championship matches as they move up to 10th in the table.

MK Dons manager Karl Robinson:

"I'm sick really. If I'm being honest, we've not been good enough all year,

"Some of them today have made my mind up for me for different reasons - I have learnt a lot that's for sure.

"It's a difficult one for us all to take and I want to say thank you to the fans, but the most honest thing for all of us is the league table.

"In terms of the football club we have to look at what we could have done differently in lots of areas of the football club.

"There will be a lot of talking going on in the next seven days for obvious reasons, but certain people will not be here next season."

Brentford manager Dean Smith:

"I thought the result was more satisfactory than the performance - I think we can play better than that really.

"But we have to credit MK Dons a little bit as well, they kept us honest defensively but I think the difference was that we scored the goals at the right times.

"We came here with a game plan and wanted to back up the rest of our performances in previous weeks.

"I've got a lot of respect for Karl Robinson and I think you can see the supporters here have respect for him too. He got a worthy round of applause at the end and it just shows the public here like him and they like the way his teams play."

Josh Murphy falls to the ground after the final whistle
MK Dons winger Josh Murphy falls to the ground after the final whistle

Line-ups

MK Dons

Formation 4-2-3-1

  • 22Cropper Substituted forBurnsat 45'minutes
  • 21Baldock
  • 5McFadzean
  • 16Walsh Substituted forKayat 45'minutes
  • 3Lewington
  • 8Potter
  • 44Forster-Caskey
  • 7Baker
  • 23Williams Substituted forRevellat 55'minutes
  • 31Murphy
  • 28Maynard

Substitutes

  • 6Kay
  • 9Bowditch
  • 12Spence
  • 17Powell
  • 18Revell
  • 29Burns
  • 40Long

Brentford

Formation 4-2-3-1

  • 27Button
  • 2Colin Substituted forClarkeat 60'minutes
  • 6Dean
  • 29Barbet
  • 3Bidwell
  • 28Yennaris
  • 12McCormack
  • 15Woods
  • 17Kerschbaumer
  • 47Canos Substituted forGogiaat 77'minutes
  • 21Vibe Substituted forDjuricinat 60'minutes

Substitutes

  • 8Djuricin
  • 16Bonham
  • 19Swift
  • 22O'Connell
  • 24Gogia
  • 36Clarke
  • 40Cole
Referee:
Andy Woolmer
Attendance:
11,564

Match Stats

Home TeamMK DonsAway TeamBrentford
Possession
Home49%
Away51%
Shots
Home9
Away18
Shots on Target
Home4
Away6
Corners
Home7
Away7
Fouls
Home12
Away11

Live Text

  1. Post update

    Match ends, MK Dons 1, Brentford 4.

  2. Full Time

    Second Half ends, MK Dons 1, Brentford 4.

  3. Post update

    Offside, Brentford. Alan McCormack tries a through ball, but Alan McCormack is caught offside.

  4. Post update

    Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Charlie Burns.

  5. Post update

    Attempt saved. Akaki Gogia (Brentford) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Konstantin Kerschbaumer.

  6. Post update

    Attempt missed. Ryan Woods (Brentford) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.

  7. Goal!

    Goal! MK Dons 1, Brentford 4. Jake Bidwell (Brentford) from a free kick with a left footed shot to the top left corner.

  8. Post update

    Foul by Antony Kay (MK Dons).

  9. Post update

    Akaki Gogia (Brentford) wins a free kick on the right wing.

  10. Post update

    Attempt missed. Akaki Gogia (Brentford) left footed shot from outside the box is too high. Assisted by Josh Clarke.

  11. Post update

    Attempt missed. Marco Djuricin (Brentford) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left.

  12. Post update

    Jake Forster-Caskey (MK Dons) wins a free kick on the right wing.

  13. Post update

    Foul by Konstantin Kerschbaumer (Brentford).

  14. Post update

    Foul by George Baldock (MK Dons).

  15. Post update

    Alan McCormack (Brentford) wins a free kick on the left wing.

  16. Goal!

    Goal! MK Dons 1, Brentford 3. Ryan Woods (Brentford) right footed shot from outside the box to the top left corner. Assisted by Marco Djuricin.

  17. Substitution

    Substitution, Brentford. Akaki Gogia replaces Sergi Canos.

  18. Post update

    Hand ball by Ryan Woods (Brentford).

  19. Post update

    Foul by Jake Forster-Caskey (MK Dons).

  20. Post update

    Alan McCormack (Brentford) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

As It Stood

Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Burnley 44 24 15 5 68 35 33 87
2 Middlesbrough 44 26 9 9 60 28 32 87
3 Brighton 44 24 15 5 70 40 30 87
4 Hull 43 22 11 10 62 33 29 77
5 Derby 44 21 14 9 65 41 24 77
6 Sheff Wed 44 18 17 9 62 43 19 71
7 Cardiff 44 17 16 11 55 47 8 67
8 Ipswich 44 16 15 13 49 49 0 63
9 Birmingham 44 16 13 15 50 46 4 61
10 Brentford 43 17 8 18 64 64 0 59
11 Preston 44 14 16 14 42 43 -1 58
12 Leeds 44 14 16 14 48 55 -7 58
13 QPR 44 13 18 13 53 53 0 57
14 Wolves 44 13 15 16 50 56 -6 54
15 Reading 44 13 13 18 50 54 -4 52
16 Huddersfield 44 13 12 19 58 61 -3 51
17 Nottm Forest 44 12 15 17 40 45 -5 51
18 Blackburn 44 11 16 17 42 45 -3 49
19 Rotherham 44 13 10 21 52 65 -13 49
20 Bristol City 44 12 13 19 50 70 -20 49
21 Fulham 44 11 15 18 65 76 -11 48
22 MK Dons 44 9 12 23 36 64 -28 39
23 Charlton 44 8 13 23 38 76 -38 37
24 Bolton 44 4 15 25 40 80 -40 27
View full Championship table

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