Soccer

MK Dons to play in Championship for first time

Preston miss out on automatic promotion as Colchester beat them to stay up

MK Dons players celebrate after gaining promotion to the Championship at the end of the League One match against Yeovil Town at Stadium mk. Photo: Pete Norton/Getty Images
MK Dons players celebrate after gaining promotion to the Championship at the end of the League One match against Yeovil Town at Stadium mk. Photo: Pete Norton/Getty Images
Sun May 03 2015 - 15:14

League One final day round-up: MK Dons will play Championship football for the first time in the club's brief history next season after sealing automatic promotion on a tense final day of the campaign.

The Milton Keynes club, formed in 2004, began the afternoon in third place and a point behind Preston who blew their chance of a top-two finish by losing 1-0 at relegation-threatened Colchester.

Karl Robinson’s team ended the season in style with a 5-1 home win against bottom side Yeovil which took their goal tally for the campaign to 101 – a club record.

Carl Baker opened the scoring for MK Dons and they were 4-0 ahead by half-time after further goals from Dean Lewington (24), Darren Potter (35) and Will Grigg (39). Yeovil pulled one back as Josh Spence scored an own goal 11 minutes into the second half, but Lewington's second and the Dons' fifth restored the four-goal cushion.

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Preston's first defeat in 19 league matches means it is the play-offs for them, and they will face Chesterfield in the semi-finals.

George Moncur's 82nd-minute goal kept Colchester up and there was further drama at the bottom end of the table as Coventry saved their own skin by beating Crawley 2-1, which meant the Red Devils went down.

Notts County engineered their own 'great escape' 12 months ago but recently-appointed manager Ricardo Moniz could not repeat Shaun Derry's feat as a 3-1 loss at Gillingham sent them back to League Two.

Leyton Orient, last season's beaten play-off finalists at Wembley, completed the bottom four as a 2-2 draw at play-off-bound Swindon was not enough. The Os played against 10 men for 70 minutes and led 2-0 but still failed to win.

Crewe, like most years, survived by the skin of their teeth despite losing 1-0 at home to Bradford.

Champions Bristol City capped a memorable campaign with an 8-2 victory over Walsall at Ashton Gate, where defender Aden Flint scored a hat-trick.

There were also plenty of goals at Oakwell, where Barnsley beat 10-man Rochdale 5-0, and the Keepmoat Stadium, where Doncaster defeated local rivals Scunthorpe 5-2 – with Nathan Tyson netting a hat-trick for Rovers.

Neighbours Sheffield United and Chesterfield shared a 1-1 draw at Bramall Lane, where both teams were assured of their places in the play-offs prior to kick-off. The Blades will face Swindon in the semi-finals.

Elsewhere, Fleetwood won 2-1 at Port Vale and Oldham and Peterborough shared the points in a 1-1 draw.