Milton Keynes Dons beat Barnet 3-0 on Saturday lunchtime, a result that felt comfortable long before the final whistle.
MK Dons settled quickly. Jon Mellish opened the scoring in the seventh minute, and Idris Kanu doubled the lead on 12 minutes to give the home side control they rarely surrendered. The two early goals knocked the shape out of Barnet's afternoon before it had properly begun, and the visitors spent much of the first half chasing shadows.
Kanu added his second shortly after the hour on 57 minutes, wrapping up the points with thirty minutes still to play. From that point the match lost its competitive tension, and both managers turned to their benches with little urgency.
The substitutions in the closing stages produced a flurry of names entering the pitch without materially changing what was happening on it. Scott Hogan and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy came on with the game long since settled, and a batch of late changes in the final minutes confirmed this was an exercise in rotation rather than rescue.
Barnet offered little of note going forward. The event log shows no goals against MK Dons, and the clean sheet reflected a disciplined home performance as much as visiting toothlessness.
MK Dons were the better side throughout. Three goals, two from the same player, and a match that never looked in doubt after the opening quarter-hour.
Recap generated from the event timeline. Editorial team review by request. How we use AI.
