MK Dons 1 Sheffield United 2: Higdon hits late double to take Blades through

But, even by the Blades’ love of a dramatic finale, last night was quite extraordinary.

Trailing to Benik Afobe’s penalty with just four minutes remaining, Nigel Clough’s men looked to be heading out of the Capital One Cup.

Then, though, Michael Higdon took charge to, first, equalise with a close-range header and then smash a stunning winner deep into stoppage time to send the Yorkshire club through to the quarter-finals.

It was a quite amazing finish to the tie, even for a club who have scored goals during the final six minutes of games on no less than nine occasions this season.

Higdon’s late, late double may have left the Dons players shell-shocked.

But, on the balance of play and quality of chances created, Clough’s men deserved to earn a place in tonight’s draw.

After a first half that had been a total non-event, the Blades came to life soon after the restart and really should have gone ahead only for Marc McNulty and Stefan Scougall to miss gilt-edged chances.

Yorkshire’s last representative in the competition looked like rueing those spurned opportunities when Afobe, a former Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town loanee, put the Dons ahead.

But then came that glorious finale to leave Clough, a two-time winner of this competition as a player, dreaming of a glamour tie in next month’s quarter-finals.

Last night’s tie may not have been the most glamorous, but with only Shrewsbury Town of the other 14 teams involved in the fourth round being outside the top two divisions, what it did offer was a fantastic opportunity to progress.

Maybe that is why the first half was such a cagey affair, with the two sides cancelling each other out to such an extent that neither goalkeeper had much to do other than applaud their respective defences for keeping the opposition attack at bay.

The only real chance of note came in the 24th minute when Jordan Spence picked out Dean Bowditch, but the Dons man made a total hash of his attempted volley from 15 yards to allow Mark Howard to collect with ease.

United’s best moments of a dour first half came early on, but the only mildly concerning moment for home goalkeeper David Martin came when Ben Davies got free down the right and crossed for Marc McNulty, whose shot was blocked by a home leg.

McNulty was also involved in the game’s first genuine chance of the night two minutes after the restart as the Dons failed to clear Ben Davies’s corner.

The ball then broke to Jamie Murphy in space and he rolled a pass across the face of goal for McNulty, who looked certain to score only for a couple of home defenders to somehow get the ball to safety.

It was a bad miss, though one that Scougall rivalled in the glaring stakes just five minutes later when he headed over an open goal after goalkeeper Martin had failed to cut out Davies’s cross.

The relief among the home players was obvious at such a let-off and they made the Blades pay midway through the second half.

An incisive pass from Sami Carruthers opened up the United defence, leaving Craig Alcock with little option but to slide in on Dele Alli and try to rescue the situation.

Unfortunately for the summer signing from Peterborough United, his timing was a fraction of a second out and Alli crashed to the floor.

Referee Roger East rightly pointed straight to the spot and Afobe did the rest by sending Howard the wrong way with the penalty to take his tally of goals in this season’s League Cup to six.

Clough’s response was to send on Jose Baxter and Jamal Campbell-Ryce, and the move brought renewed life to the visitors.

First, Campbell-Ryce delivered an inviting cross that was just begging for one of his team-mates to tap in as the ball rolled across goal.

Then, a deep cross from the Jamaican international was turned back across goal by Bob Harris but, again, no one in a yellow shirt was on hand to apply the final touch.

Four minutes from time, the equaliser United deserved against Manchester United’s conquerors came as Harris centred for Higdon to head in past Martin from close range.

Extra-time seemed to be looming only for Martin to make a hash of a cross to leave Higdon with the simple task of controlling and smashing the ball into an empty net.

Milton Keynes Dons: Martin; Spence, Flanagan, McFadzean, Lewington; Potter, Alli; Bowditch (Powell 61), Reeves (Grigg 61), Carruthers; Afobe. Unused substitutes: McLoughlin, Kay, Baker, Randall, Hitchcock.

Sheffield United: Howard; Alcock, McEveley, McGahey, Harris; Reed, Doyle; Davies (Campbell-Ryce 76), Scougall (Baxter 70), Murphy; McNulty (Higdon 55). Unused substitutes: Turner, McGinn, Kennedy, Dimaio.

Referee: R East (Wiltshire).

Last night’s scores: Page 22.