From the Archive | One Step Closer to Safety

Our first season back in League One after a 16-year absence was a tough one.

After guiding us to promotion in 2012, Graham Turner had a tough job on his hands keeping us in the third-tier in the 2013/14 season.  

 By the time we arrived in Milton Keynes in March, we were winless on the road in over three months and were sitting four points clear of the relegation zone.

A win at Stadium: MK, no matter how unlikely it seemed, would give us some much-needed breathing room, with a handful of teams beneath us also having games in hand.

Salop took the lead against the run of play, with Tom Eaves neatly slotting the ball past Ian McLoughlin in the MK goal to make it 1-0 in the 16th minute.

Just three minutes, Eaves would get his second of the afternoon.

After some delightful link-up play with Marvin Morgan on the edge of the area, the on-loan striker curled an effort into the bottom corner to stun the home crowd.

MK would find a way back into the game ten minutes later, with former Town striker Ryan Lowe heading home from a corner to make it 2-1.

The hosts would continue to look for an equaliser throughout the first half, with Salop stopper Chris Weale denying a Mathias Doumbe header in the 33rd minute, before the midfielder fired another wide just before the break.

This pressure paid off for MK early in the second-half, with a free-kick floating over Chris Weale’s head and being met by Ryan Lowe at the back-post to make it 2-2.

MK would undo all their effort with just 20 minutes left on the clock. A long-ball from Matt Richards that should have been easily dealt with was knocked past Ian McLoughlin by Antony Kay.

The win all but guaranteed Salop’s safety in their first season back in League One, lifting us seven points clear of the drop zone with eight games to play.

It also marked our first away win of 2013 after what had been a tough run on the road in the second-half of the season.