A Wayne Thomas stunner and a tap-in from Michail Antonio saw Saints pull off a bit of an upset in the FA Cup.

Full report to follow…

Saints took a big step towards a Wembley final after Michail Antonio’s acrobatic volley gave them a first-leg lead in the southern area final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy to take back to St Mary’s.

Alan Pardew was forced into a number of changes from the starting lineup at Millwall on Saturday. New signings Jon Otsemobor and Dan Seaborne were cup-tied having played for their previous clubs earlier in the competition, with Wayne Thomas and Chris Perry deputising. Dan Harding was forced to miss only his second game of the season through illness, which gave Joseph Mills an opportunity at left-back. Paul Wotton replaced skipper Dean Hammond, who is out for a couple of weeks with an ankle injury, with the armband being given to José Fonte in only his second appearance for the club.

Saints were out of the traps quickly, forcing the Dons onto the back foot, and could have been in front within two minutes. Michail Antonio’s cross found its way to Fonte who chested the ball down and volleyed inches past the post.

It wasn’t long before Dons keeper Willie Gueret was forced into a save, Morgan Schneiderlin’s run down the right wing ended with a cross for the unmarked Adam Lallana, but he made a mess of the shot, scuffing it into the ground, allowing Gueret to gather at the second attempt.

The visitors were piling on the pressure, attacking the end where 3,000 Saints fans were located - while the rest of the ground might as well have been closed, such was the sparsity of the home crowd - and they again went close when a Lloyd James corner caused havoc in the area and Wayne Thomas put enough pressure on a defender to hammer the ball straight up in the air, and landed on top of the crossbar.

They weren’t to be denied for long, though, as Mills’ free kick from the halfway line was flicked on just outside the penalty area by Lambert, the ball falling for Antonio who, in one movement, swivelled past the defender and hit an acrobatic volley across Gueret and in off the far post. It was no more than Saints deserved for their complete domination.

They should have been given an opportunity to double that advantage only a few minutes later. Lloyd James beat McCracken to the ball inside the area and was uncerimoniously dumped to the ground. The linesman flagged for a foul while the ball trickled out of play for either a goal kick or corner, but after a discussion with the referee, he somehow came to the unfathomable conclusion that it should be a Saints throw-in.

The Dons eventually ventured into the Saints half shortly before half-time, and the referee gave them a generous free-kick for a foul by Fonte on Aaron Wilbrahim on the edge of the area, but Jason Puncheon’s effort from the set piece went tamely wide of goal.

Half-Time: MK Dons 0-1 Saints

The home side were out very early for the second half and were put through a second warm-up drill by their coaching staff, presumably after a rocket up their backsides from Paul Ince in the dressing room, but initially it didn’t seem to make much difference to the flow of the game as Saints once again set up camp in the Dons half. Lloyd James flashed a long-range effort wide of goal and Lallana found himself crowded out when the ball fell to him in the penalty area.

Saints then had another big penalty shout turned down, Fonte jumped with the defender who appeared to scoop the ball away with his arm, but the referee - despite being well placed - waved it away.

Eventually the home side started to get a foothold in the game, mostly thanks to the pettiness and inconsistency of the referee. Jermaine Easter worked himself a bit of space 25 yards from goal and unleashed a powerful shot which Kelvin Davis saw late but got down to quickly to turn it round the post for a corner.

With ten minutes remaining, Morgan Schneiderlin tangled with Stephen Gleeson - the referee deemed the Frenchman’s challenge to be perfectly fair, but Gleeson reacted by grabbing Schneiderlin, who then retaliated with a hand in the face. Gleeson received a yellow card but Saints were forced to play the remainder of the game with only ten men as Schneiderlin saw red.

It was now a backs-to-the-wall job for the visitors. Substitute Jude Sterling had time and space after a cleared long throw to put a dangerous cross into the six-yard box which was met by Wilbrahim but his effort rebounded off the inside of the post and away to safety. That was the closest the Dons came all night, and in fact Saints could have doubled their advantage in the last minute of injury time when Lloyd James’ left-footed effort from the corner of the area was brilliantly saved by Gueret.

Full-Time: MK Dons 0-1 Saints

Summary: After a handful of lacklustre performances, we simply tore the Dons to pieces in the first half, and if anything we should probably be disappointed that we didn’t make the dominance in that first 45 minutes count in the form of another goal or two. It really wouldn’t have flattered us.

Michail Antonio will rightly get the plaudits for his goal and overall performance, but it genuinely was an excellent team effort with every one of the players contributing. It now gives us a great platform to settle the tie at St Mary’s on February 9th, where it’s pretty much a given that the attendance will far exceed the pitiful effort mustered by the home fans at stadium:mk.

Dons chairman Peter Winkleman insists that his stadium - at an increased 45,000 capacity - wouldn’t be a white elephant were the city to be chosen to be part of the final bidding process for the nation’s World Cup bid. This match showed it’s likely to be a struggle for him to suggest his stadium’s not a white elephant in its current guise. There were nearly as many Saints fans in the ground as there were Dons fans - for a cup semi-final, that’s simply pathetic.

Still, we’ve taken another step towards Wembley - time to finish the job!

Saints booked their place in the second round of the FA Cup thanks to three goals in the space of seven second-half minutes to banish memories of the 2008 cup exit on the same ground.

Alan Pardew made three changes from the side that started the 2-2 draw at Leyton Orient. Neal Trotman was ineligible as Preston North End refused permission for him to play with Wayne Thomas deputising in the centre of defence, while Paul Wotton and Papa Waigo dropped to the bench allowing Michail Antonio and David Connolly to start in a 4-4-2 formation.

The home side started the brighter with Chris Lines, Dominic Blizzard and Andy Williams all using their superior pace to get space behind the Saints central midfield pairing of Dean Hammond and Morgan Schneiderlin, while the pressure that created often forced the Saints defence to resort to long balls up to Rickie Lambert and Connolly which the Rovers defence dealt with fairly comfortably.

Saints’ best moments of the first half came when Antonio and Adam Lallana managed to get on the ball in wide positions. Both produced decent crosses which caused the Rovers defence problems, and Hammond may feel he should have done better with a header from an Antonio cross which ended up going harmlessly over the bar.

Lallana and Connolly both had shots from the edge of the area that flashed just wide of the post, but Rovers created the best chance of the first half in the last minute when a corner caused chaos in the six-yard box and Dan Harding had to head off the line.

Half-Time: Bristol Rovers 0-0 Saints

Saints looked much brighter in the second half, having clearly been told to gain a bit more composure and keep the ball on the deck. Lallana and Antonio were still the main focal points of the attack, but Lloyd James and Dan Harding were getting forward to support a lot more.

It was a good overlapping run by James which led to his whipped cross being headed to safety by Byron Anthony under pressure from Rickie Lambert, and Harding produced a cross from the opposite flank which Steve Elliott sliced over his own crossbar.

Saints then won a free-kick 25 yards from goal after Lambert was fouled by a combination of Elliott and Lines. Lambert took it himself and bent it round the wall, but the ball clipped the outside of the right-hand post and went behind for a goal kick.

Lallana won another free-kick in a similar position five minutes later, James took it quickly finding Lallana in a bit of space on the corner of the area. He worked himself a position six yards from the goal line and squared it to Connolly to flick it past Rhys Evans in the Rovers goal for 1-0.

Three minutes later, Rovers made a double substitution, making a like-for-like substitution in midfield with Ben Swallow replacing Mark Wright and then an attack-minded change with striker Darryl Duffy coming on for Dominic Blizzard. The home side won a free-kick in a wide position and threw bodies forward in an attempt to get back into the game at the earliest opportunity, but the move broke down allowing Saints to launch a counter-attack. Lambert released Antonio to run 60 yards unchallenged. He then fed Connolly on the left in a bit of space and he fired the ball across the keeper into the far corner.

Another two minutes later and it was a feeling of déja vu as a Rovers free-kick was cleared by Rahdi Jaidi to Lambert and he sent the ball over the top of Elliott for Antonio to run onto and he used his pace to get away from the defender, turned Anthony inside out and then fired the ball inside Evans’ near post to make it three in seven minutes.

Oscar Gobern came on to replace Dan Harding at left back shortly after the third goal as Harding had already been booked and the pace of Williams was still causing him problems. However, Gobern soon found himself walking the yellow card tightrope after a late challenge on Lines saw him go into the book as well.

The home side gave themselves a glimmer of hope as the rain began to pour down when Jo Kuffour managed to get in behind the Saints defence and squared it for Duffy to tap in at the far post, and just two minutes later Davis made a good save from Swallow and Duffy somehow managed to shin the rebound over the bar with the goal gaping.

This gave Rovers a bit more momentum and they continued pressing. Davis was called into action again shortly after as he palmed Duffy’s shot onto the post, but Saints then looked to have weathered the storm - conveniently so as the deluge from the sky had eased as well - as the game moved into three minutes of injury time.

In the second of those three minutes, Kuffour backed into Gobern in the area and the youngster made a slightly naive challenge on the former Bournemouth striker who tumbled to the ground and the referee blew for a penalty. Jeff Hughes stepped up to take it and send Davis the wrong way to make the last minute a very tense affair.

Lloyd James showed maturity beyond his years to hold the ball in the corner when he had the opportunity to put the ball in the box, and won a free-kick for his persistence. Lallana took the kick short to Lambert and he held off two challenges before scooping the ball up over the defenders for Lallana whose shot was then saved by Evans, and the referee then blew for full-time.

Full Time: Bristol Rovers 2-3 Saints

In the end, a one-goal win was probably a fair reflection on the game. If we’d held onto the three-goal lead we had at one stage, it would have probably flattered us a bit, but Alan Pardew will be slightly concerned that we failed to maintain the intensity for the last 20 minutes which let Rovers back into the game.

Cup games are all about the end result though, and he’ll be pleased that we buried the hoodoo of the injury-time defeat in the corresponding league game at St Mary’s, since when both sides’ form couldn’t have been more contrasting. Rovers have now lost six in a row since that game, while Saints have won 5 out of 6. Winning breeds confidence, and we go into another tough-looking cup tie on Wednesday against Charlton in good form and spirits.

Saints have today confirmed that the loan of winger Michail Antonio from Reading has been extended until January.

The 19-year-old has made just four substitute appearances in League One so far since his temporary move from the Madejski Stadium, but has made a massive impact in the last two games in particular, causing the defences of MK Dons and Leyton Orient significant problems enabling the team to come from behind to take four points from those games.

His contract with Reading expires in the summer, and the club are believed to be interested in signing him on a permanent basis. The prospect of that happening appear to have grown with the news that Reading have allowed him to play in Friday’s FA Cup match at Bristol Rovers.

The not-so-good news regarding loan players is that both Chelsea and Preston North End have refused permission for Jacob Mellis and Neal Trotman respectively to play at the Memorial Ground which, in Trotman’s case at least, would suggest he may be recalled in January.

Saints have signed 19-year-old Reading winger Michail Antonio on a month’s loan.

Antonio impressed in last month’s reserve match between Saints and the Royals, scoring with a close-range header.

He signed from non-league Tooting and Mitcham United last summer and has made two substitute appearances for Brendan Rodgers’ side this season, as well as spending the second half of last season on loan at Cheltenham Town.

He’s been assigned the number 37 shirt, and he will be eligible for tomorrow night’s Johnstones Paint Trophy match against Torquay at St Mary’s.