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The PinkSATURDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2026League One · Page 7

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LEAGUE ONE

COLLINS HITS FOUR AS MK DONS RUN RIOT

Milton Keynes Dons 6, Doncaster 1. MK Dons: Aaron Collins 2, 21, 69, 76, Callum Paterson 81, Marvin Ekpiteta 89; Doncaster: Jordan Thomas 64. A goal inside two minutes, four in all for Aaron Collins, and Warne's side put six past Doncaster to finish a week with three wins and 11 goals

Aaron Collins needed less than two minutes to get going, and by the 76th minute he had four. MK Dons beat Doncaster 6-1 in front of 7,732 at Stadium MK, and finished a week of three league games with three wins and 11 goals.

The first came inside two minutes. Marvin Ekpiteta found Collins, and his left-footed shot from outside the box went into the bottom left corner. It was his tenth league goal of the season. On 21 minutes Ryan Wintle intercepted and picked him out in the middle of the box and he finished the other way, right-footed into the bottom right corner.

MK Dons could have had more before the break. Tommy Simkin saved from Sam Nombe, Dan Crowley and Collins again, and Alex Gilbey had three efforts blocked. Doncaster's answer was mostly long-range shooting from George Broadbent and Jordan Thomas, neither of whom troubled Will Dennis.

Grant McCann's side came out better after half-time. Brandon Hanlan and Alfie May forced saves from Dennis, McCann sent on Bayley McCann and Will Keane on the hour, and Keane headed just over almost immediately. On 64 minutes Hanlan set up Thomas, who finished low into the bottom left corner, and at 2-1 Doncaster had real hope.

It lasted five minutes.

Jack Sanders hit a long pass, Collins cut inside on the right of the box, and his left-footed shot went into the bottom right corner for his hat-trick. Paterson hit the bar with a header on the break three minutes later, and on 76 minutes Ben Wiles played Collins through for his fourth, his 16th goal of the season. He went off to a standing ovation.

From there it turned into a rout. On 81 minutes Simkin denied Charlie Goode and Paterson put away the rebound for the fifth. Eight minutes later he hit the post from close range from another dead ball, and Ekpiteta turned the sixth in from a few yards. It was his second contribution of the day after setting up the opener.

MK Dons had 25 shots to Doncaster's 12, and 11 on target to three, though Doncaster had more of the ball. Six of Paul Warne's first 12 league games had ended level. After a week like this, they look like a side that can climb the table. Doncaster have now lost twice in four days and conceded nine. McCann will want to know where the side that beat Sheffield Wednesday a week ago went.

Warne knew what he had just watched.

Collins himself admitted the hat-trick goal was a relief for everyone.

On his 250th game in charge, McCann took it all on himself.

Where it leaves them: MK Dons 11th on 18 points; Doncaster 20th on 12 points. MK Dons have won three league games in a week, beating Stevenage and Bromley before this, and four of their last five. They are 11th on 18 points, four off the play-offs. Doncaster are 19th on 12, only two points above the bottom four, after a second defeat in four days following Tuesday's 3-1 loss at Luton.

“At times, it felt like a home game with the noise they were making.”
LOW'S OVERHEAD KICK SETS THE LEADERS ON THEIR WAY

LEAGUE ONE

BURROWES SETTLES A FIVE-GOAL SCRAP AND LIFTS LATICS OFF THE FOOT

Wigan 3, Bromley 2. Wigan: Christian Saydee 18, K'Marni Miller 23, Bradley Burrowes 58; Bromley: Kamari Antonio Grant 6, George Saville 45+2. Bromley strike early and level on the stroke of half-time, but Barrett's second assist gives Wigan only their third league win of the season

Two sides at the bottom of League One, five goals, and a winner that finally gave the Brick Community Stadium something to cheer. Wigan came into the day bottom of the table and four days on from a 3-0 defeat at Leicester. They leave it with only their third league win of the season, and with Bromley beneath them.

It didn't start that way. Inside six minutes Kamarl Grant drove a right-footed shot into the top corner, and Bromley were ahead.

Wigan's answer was quick. Christian Saydee had already gone close in the second minute, and on 18 he made no mistake, turning in Connor Barrett's delivery from close range with his left foot. It was his third goal of the campaign.

Five minutes later the hosts were in front. Grant Smith tipped Reggie Walsh's shot, from a Bradley Burrowes cross, onto the bar, and the pressure told almost immediately: K'Marni Miller headed into the top corner from the edge of the six-yard box.

Smith kept Bromley alive, saving from Saydee and then Charlie Gray. Max Power sent one just wide. Bromley lost Adam Jackson to injury on 32 minutes, with Omar Sowunmi replacing him.

Then, in the second minute of stoppage time, Bromley were level. George Saville headed just wide, Michael Cheek had a shot blocked, and moments later Saville finished from close range into the top corner. A half Wigan had largely controlled ended 2-2.

The winner came on 58 minutes, and once again it was Barrett who made it. He poked the ball into Burrowes's path, and the winger, on loan from Aston Villa, beat Smith from close range with his left foot. It was his first senior goal.

From there it became a scrap. There were seven yellow cards after the break, five of them for Bromley, and both managers rang the changes. Gary Caldwell sent on Scott Hogan, Dara Costelloe, Jon Mellish and Morgan Fox. Bromley threw on Victor Adeboyejo, Richard Taylor and Ethon Archer.

The visitors pushed in stoppage time. Taylor fired high and wide from a Marcus Ifill cross, and Joe Whitworth got down to save Will Hondermarck's low shot. Archer had one blocked, and Ifill's last effort went wide.

Wigan had 61 per cent of the ball and eight shots on target to Bromley's four. Bromley actually had more shots, 15 to 13, but Smith had to make five saves to Whitworth's two. For a side that has struggled this badly, Caldwell will take a scrappy win.

Gary Caldwell had set his players a simple target before kick-off.

Bromley's interim boss Byron Webster watched his side slip to the foot of League One.

Where it leaves them: Wigan 21st on 10 points; Bromley 24th on 9 points. The three points take Wigan to 10 and from bottom to fourth-bottom, a point behind Blackpool and safety. Bromley, who started the day above them, drop to the foot of the table on nine points, and they have now conceded 33 League One goals.

LEAGUE ONE · WEST YORKSHIRE DERBY

LOW'S OVERHEAD KICK SETS THE LEADERS ON THEIR WAY

Bradford 0, Huddersfield 3. Huddersfield: Joseph Low 4, Derensili Sanches Fernandes 48, Joe Taylor 51. Sanches Fernandes and Taylor strike inside six minutes of the restart, Sarcevic is sent off, and Duff's Bradford finally concede

Bradford came into this one with six straight clean sheets and Michael Duff yet to see his side concede a goal. Jon McCracken had gone 686 minutes without picking the ball out of his net. Joe Low ended all of that inside four minutes, and by the hour the 23,776 at Valley Parade knew the derby belonged to Huddersfield.

It came from a long throw. Ilias Bronkhorst's looping throw-in was only half-cleared, Cameron Humphreys lobbed it back into the box, and when Aden Baldwin's second clearance bounced up, Low swung himself into an overhead kick and hooked it into the top corner. His somersault celebration wasn't quite as good as the finish.

To their credit, Bradford came back hard. Matt Young was booked for flying out of his goal and catching Jake Beesley, then had to parry a low Corey O'Keeffe free-kick through a crowd of bodies. Will Swan glanced Kayden Jackson's low cross just wide, and Matt Pennington had a shot deflected past the post from another fine O'Keeffe delivery. At half-time it was 1-0 and still anyone's game.

Duff changed it at the break. Nick Powell and Adam Phillips came on, and City went to a 3-1-4-2. Within three minutes it had gone wrong. Huddersfield broke from a Bradford corner, O'Keeffe slipped, Joe Taylor fed Derensili Sanches Fernandes, and he slid it between McCracken's legs.

Three minutes later, Sean Roughan crossed from the left, Taylor rose at the back post, and his header crept in. A side that hadn't conceded in six games had now let in three in 51 minutes.

From then on, the 2,755 in the sold-out away end had their party. They goaded Duff, Huddersfield's former manager, and sang the name of Martin Drury, who used to coach at Bradford. Bali Mumba went down under pressure from McCracken but got no penalty, and Taylor fired into the side-netting.

Bradford's afternoon got worse on 69 minutes, when captain Antoni Sarcevic pulled back Bronkhorst and got his second yellow. Home supporters were already heading for the exits, and they didn't see Phillips limp off late on.

Huddersfield finished with 17 shots to Bradford's 14 and six on target to three. Their first three shots all went in, and Drury made a point of it.

He admitted the first half had been "quite a poor game of football" and that Bradford "looked a little bit more connected" early on. After the break, he said, "we had more control", and he singled out the away end: "At times, it felt like a home game with the noise they were making."

Duff, serenaded by the visiting fans for much of the second half, didn't dodge the errors.

He insisted City had been the better team before the break: "I don't think that's me being biased, there's numbers that will tell you that." "You've got to suck it up," he told the Telegraph & Argus. "The last half an hour, you've got people wanting to get after the ball, but you don't want to turn it into a four, five or six."

Last season Huddersfield were beaten, and beaten well, on this ground. This time they leave two points clear at the top, with Stockport winning at Edgeley Park, and their promotion credentials look very real. For Bradford, it was their heaviest home defeat since March 2024. Duff's last word: "Deep breath, hopefully it's a one-off."

Where it leaves them: Bradford 7th on 22 points; Huddersfield 1st on 28 points. Huddersfield stay top on 28 points, unbeaten in six and two clear of Stockport, who came from behind to beat AFC Wimbledon. Bradford could have drawn level on points with the leaders. Instead they've slipped to seventh on 22, and the best defence in the division conceded three in 51 minutes.

LEAGUE ONE

CONNOLLY'S SOLO RUN ENDS CAMBRIDGE'S AWAY RECORD

Leyton Orient 3, Cambridge United 0. Orient: Rarmani Edmonds-Green 32, Jaze Kabia 50, Aaron Connolly 62. Edmonds-Green scores on his first appearance of the season and then makes one for Kabia as Orient stop the rot

Cambridge arrived at Brisbane Road unbeaten in ten away games in all competitions. They'd last lost on the road at Barnet last season, on their way to automatic promotion. Orient had lost their last two. In front of 8,639, the home side ended both runs.

For half an hour it was Cambridge's game. Zak Bradshaw's side-footed cross was just too heavy for Sullay Kaikai, who'd have had a tap-in, Louis Appéré and Cathal Heffernan both headed over, and on 28 minutes Nathan Baxter tipped over Bradshaw's deflected drive after Ben Knight had laid it off.

Orient had offered almost nothing. Then, on 32 minutes, Alex Gilbert swung in a corner from the right, and Rarmani Edmonds-Green, playing for the first time this season, met it first time. The ball hit the far post and went in. It was the first effort on target of the game, and the ninth time in ten league games that Cambridge had conceded first.

Armando Dobra should have doubled it before the break, but, unmarked six yards out, he couldn't steer his header from Ollie O'Neill's cross on target.

Neil Harris sent on Shayne Lavery at half-time, and two minutes in Cambridge should have been level. Baxter couldn't hold Bradshaw's low cross, and Appéré pounced, but his close-range effort looped onto the post and dropped into the keeper's arms.

Orient punished them at once. On 50 minutes Edmonds-Green latched on to Somto Boniface's deep cross and knocked it back across goal for Jaze Kabia, unmarked inside the six-yard box, to tap in.

Aaron Connolly had already curled one a yard wide when, on 62 minutes, with Cambridge pushing men forward, he picked the ball up just inside his own half. Kell Watts backed off and kept backing off. Connolly drove into the box, made the angle and picked out Jake Eastwood's bottom corner.

That was the end of it, and both benches were emptied. Cambridge had 16 shots and 34 touches in the Orient box, twice as many as the home side, but only two of their shots were on target. Orient had three on target, and scored with all of them.

Richie Wellens saved his praise for the man of the match, Rarmani Edmonds-Green, back after an ACL injury suffered in October 2025.

Harris was far less forgiving of his own side.

He was clear it wasn't about Orient's quality. "Orient weren't better than us in the sense of patterns or rotations or ability to break us down," he told the Cambridge Independent. "We shot ourselves in the foot time and time again." He pointed to "the same individuals making the same errors" as in last week's 3-2 defeat at Plymouth, and said bluntly that "the players have let themselves down".

Where it leaves them: Orient 14th on 17 points; Cambridge 8th on 21 points. Orient end a run of two straight defeats and move on to 17 points. Cambridge stay on 21, without a win in four league games, and have now conceded first in nine of their last ten.

A mockup of the printed edition. Every word set here comes from the night's reports, results and tables.