An early goal by the outstanding Liam Kelly gave Crawley the lead
Crawley Town cruised to a resounding win over Milton Keynes Dons in the first leg of their League Two play-off semi-final.
First-half goals from Liam Kelly and Jay Williams put the Red Devils in control and Ronan Darcy’s deflected strike left them in a strong position going into the return leg.
MK Dons, competing in the play-offs for the sixth time, have never reached a final and will need to pull off a brilliant comeback if they are to avoid missing out again.
The game had been scheduled to be played on Monday but was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch, resulting in the second leg being moved from Thursday to Saturday.
Crawley, competing in the play-offs for the first time, went ahead after just five minutes.
Kelly darted forward, exchanged passes with Adam Campbell and thumped a first-time shot from near the edge of the penalty area past his namesake Michael Kelly in the Dons goal.
It came less than two minutes after a brilliant goalline clearance by Will Wright prevented the visitors going ahead.
Keeper Kelly’s long ball was misjudged by the Crawley defence and Max Dean rounded Corey Addai only for Wright to somehow get back in time to deny the Dons’ top scorer.
Otherwise, Mike Williamson’s team, who finished the regular season fourth in the table with eight more points than Crawley, barely threatened during what turned out to be a one-sided first half.
Kelly produced a fine save to tip over Danilo Orsi’s shot and kept out Laurence Maguire’s header from the resulting corner, but was unable to rescue his side moments before the interval.
Wright served up a perfect free-kick from the left and Williams slid in to score. Kelly got a hand to the ball but was unable to keep it out of his net.
MK Dons were better after the interval and keeper Addai pushed away a long-range effort from Joe Tomlinson.
Ellis Harrison then missed a golden chance just after coming on as a substitute, shooting wide after Tomlinson put him through on goal.
And for the second time, Crawley scored less than two minutes after a near-miss at the other end.
There was a touch of good fortune about Ronan Darcy's second-half goal
Darcy, also just on as a substitute, found Kelly with a clever reverse pass, collected an equally smart reverse pass and then saw his shot - or perhaps an intended cross - loop in after deflecting off the unfortunate Daniel Harvie.
The winners of the tie will play either Crewe Alexandra or Doncaster Rovers in the final at Wembley on 19 May for a place in League One. Doncaster won 2-0 at Crewe in the first leg of their semi-final.
Post-match reaction
Crawley Town manager Scott Lindsey told BBC Radio Surrey:
“I’m really pleased with the outcome of the game. We scored some really good goals and played really well.
“But it is only half-time, so we have to be humble and respectful of them. They’re a really good side.
“Potentially we could have maybe scored more, but we don’t want to be too greedy. We’ll take the 3-0 and get ready for another tough game on Saturday.
“I can’t praise the players enough. I’ve created a real culture here that everyone’s with each other. We’ve got a really good team spirit and I think you could clearly see that.
“I’m proud of the players. They’ve been class. But we’re at the halfway point and there’s no room for celebration.”
MK Dons boss Mike Williamson told BBC 3CR:
“The disappointing thing is that we didn’t look anything like us. We’ve got to make sure we assess that and put it right.
“We’ve got to make sure that we dust ourselves down now and keep our heads. We’ve got all the belief that we’ve got more than enough to overturn this.
“Everything is reversible. We know we’ve got a mountain to climb, but we feel we’ve got a group of lads that are able to achieve that.
“We know that we’ll turn up on Saturday and we’ll empty the tank and give everything. We’ve got to make sure that if we do go down we go down looking like us and exhausting every avenue.”
