January Blog

Notts county 1-2 Dons
We started the New Year in 7th place in the league on 39 points and twenty five games played and I was hoping we could manage a draw at Notts County.

What happened was we got three points and moved up to sixth and back in the play off's on 42 points and the first goal of season the fifty to safety is nearly upon us though we are really looking beyond that and Auto.

At this stage I was still confident of play off's but dreaming of Auto's though like most fans that changes depending on results lol.

So the year had started well but what was encouraging was the defence held up, particularly in the later stages of the second half when we came under a lot of pressure Kay gave away a penalty after tripping Judge and the menace that is Campbell-Ryce slotted home the penalty.

Kay was again immense and got forward as well as being the rock in defence we are getting used to.
Only downside was Bowditch going off injured and we hoped it was not a bad injury.

This was a great win on the road after two defeats at home, the pitch was not great and we had not had the rest Notts had but we showed great character and deserved the win.
Before the game we had signed on loan from Brighton Ryan Harley as I mentioned in last months blog, Ryan's debut started well with a pin point cross to Potter which Darren duly dispatched
The teams lined up
Notts County: Bialkowski, Kelly (Showunmi 90), Bishop (c), M Smith, Liddle, Judge, Hughes, Campbell-Ryce (Zoko 79, Boucaud, Stewart, Iwelumo (Arquin 46).
Subs: Spiess, Mahon, Labadie, Bencherif.
Goal: Campbell-Ryce (pen) 56
MK Dons (4-2-3-1): Martin; Chicksen, Kay, Williams, Lewington (c); Potter, Harley; Powell, Bowditch (A Smith 45), Balanta (Kouo-Doumbe 65); Lowe (MacKenzie 90).
Subs: McLoughlin, MacDonald, Alli, Ismail.
Goals: Potter 6, Powell 13
Referee: Graham Salisbury was from Lancashire another eight out of ten.
Attendance: 5,325 with 311 away fans.

Before the Notts game and the days following the talk was about Izale McLeod and the strong rumour he was coming back.

When Portsmouth announced he had been released the rumours turned into reports of sightings and then by 2nd January it was when are the club going to announce it.

I knew he has been at Woughton and on Thursday the third I went over to Woughton to find out that players were at stadium training so I headed over to the hotel where the players had finished the session and were heading off to Northampton.

I spoke to Izale and he confirmed he was cup tied but waiting to see if his five yellows would stop him playing in the next league game I think he was hoping that the cup game would count as his one game ban.

Lewie ribbed Izale and said he got booked for diving and he'd have to stop that here I said I cant believe Izale would dive ! and thought back to Lewie in last game when it looked rather like he went over easily in the Penalty area lol Izale seemed a lot more chatty than when he was here last when I think he was quite shy and I never found him arrogant back then as I have heard some say.

I said the coffee shop (in Oxley Park he owns with wife Laura) should get a few more fans in and he asked if I had been there and if I liked it I said I had and did and it was nice talking to him again.

In so many games I have written how we dominated games but lacked the finish and Izale will hopefully get on the end of those killer crosses from Bowditch and Powell etc.

Next up was our reward for beating AFC and it was a return visit to Sheffield Wednesday a team we know well from last season so not the journey into the unknown some might have hoped for.

Patrick Bamford was expected to miss the final game of his loan spell and reports he will be out for five weeks probably means we wont see him again, Ibra Sekajja and Angelo Balanta returned to Crystal Palace and Queens Park Rangers respectively.

We had good news and as I hoped Zeli Ismail loan was extended (or rejoined whatever you prefer)until the end of the season including play off's.

The game itself was not the greatest to watch but there was always that excitement of snatching a goal and getting to fourth round, we had the most procession and out sung the home fans for the most part but again we did not get the all important goal.

Smith was the M.O.M. and we have to do it all over again at S:MK we played a sixteen year old and a fifteen year old due to our growing injury crisis and both did well.
Teams lined up
Sheffield Wednesday: Bywater, Buxton, Taylor (c), Antonio, Maguire (Johnson 68), Mattock, McCabe (Semedo 87), Sidibe (Madine 55), Prutton, Llera an ex Don.
Subs: Davies, Johnson, O’Grady, Corry.

MK Dons: Martin,Doumbe, Kay, Williams, Lewington (c); Potter, Harley, Ismail (Deli Alli still just sixteen 67), Smith (MacKenzie 71), Chicksen; Lowe and 15 year old Rasulo 90.

Subs: McLoughlin, Galloway.

Referee was Michael Oliver who was okay 7 out of 10.

Attendance was 11, 463 with 1,185 very noisy Dons fans.

Dons 1-1 Bury

Frustrating,annoying,disappointing were the words (amongst some stronger) I would use to describe the performance against Bury who sat second from bottom before the game.

It all looked great early on when Dean Bowditch hit an early goal and we looked dominant before the goal and just after.

I really have know idea what went wrong afterwards and I have had a day to think about it! We seemed to not suit the formation I would not blame Izale as he had a reasonable game although did miss a tap in from a cross I thought he would get something on, to me the subs were brought on too late I thought Smith would have been better sitting behind Izale and Zeli should have come on earlier to make the runs down wing to feed Izale.

As the second half went on I could feel the eqauliser coming and Steven Schumacher duly proved me right with a sweet volley that Martin could not near.

Captain Dean Lewington was presented with a trophy before the game to mark his 400th league appearance but I think like the rest of us he will prefer to forget that game.

We named seven substitutes although no keeper was amongst them and we learnt Ian had gone on a months loan to Walsall I knew Burns the academy keeper had hurt his thumb and we were lucky Martin was not sent off after what looked to me a foul on last man luckily the worst ref this season saw it otherwise and penalised the Walsall player.

Martin made a superb tipping save which prevented Efe Sodje’s header from finding the roof of the net.

Sodje seemed to keep Izale quiet and was Walsalls M.O.M for me Powell was booked for diving which was harsh as he was tripped we again missed chances Kay’s shot was cleared off the line by some last gasp Bury defending and McLeod’s deflected looping effort struck the upright before rolling across the goalmouth.

John-Lewis (remember him)broke free on goal but sent it wide later on and Schumacher also missed a chance.

As Robbo said after the game "a case of two points dropped".

Dons: Martin, Lewington, Williams, Potter, Bowditch M.OM though tired toward end, Chicksen, McLeod (Smith brought on to late 78), Lowe, Powell (Ismail like Smith too late 78), Harley who looks better every game , Kay. Unused subs: Otsemobor, Doumbe, MacKenzie, Smith, Alli, Rasulo.

Goal by Bowditch on 15.

Booked: Powell, Bowditch.

Bury: Carson, Skarz, Worrall, Schumacher, John-Lewis, Sodje good game Walsall m.o.m , Hughes, Hopper (Jones 55), Thompson, Ebanks-Landell, Soares (Carrington our former player 90). Unused subs just Dibble, Wylde on a bench of just four.

Ref was terrible and named Fred Graham made a bad game worse with his petty pulling free kicks back missing the bleeding obvious and generaly bad decision making 3 out of ten as he was bad for both teams.
Att: 7,384

Losing manager Dave Jones signing autograph for an MK Dons fan !

So after the brief intermission of a league game it was back

to FA Cup action and the replay with Sheffield Wednesday.
We had snow in MK the day before but not a great deal and we had heard the undersoil heating was getting its first workout so the game was not in doubt.

The game was quite an entertaining one with Llera providing the comedy.
At MK Dons we are usually happy to see returning players but Miquel bucked that trend by the most ridiculous act's of diving,cheating and failing to bully Alan Smith (who made him look more a muppet than he was)why Llera has decided to bring these tricks to his game I have no idea but it was awful to watch.
The Owls brought a strong side and wanted the win but the Dons defence held firm got some luck and kept a clean sheet.

John Gorman was again here to watch and is in far better health than when he left us last season and he must have been pleased with the youngsters like Powell and Chico who played well.

It was the Dons we love to watch that night and despite the distraction of Blackpool making an approach for Robbo before the game we won 2-0 and face QPR at Loftus Rd end of month.
Teams were
MK Dons (4-2-3-1) Martin, made saves when needed Otsemobor back from injury bit rusty , Kay another strong game, MacKenzie knackered when he went off(Doumbe 71), Lewington (c); Potter, Williams; Powell who really should have gone down after he was tripped in the area but bravely or stupidly ! tried to score, (Alli 88), Smith who won sponsors and my M.O.T.M, Bowditch (Chicksen 78) Lowe.
Subs not used: Harley, Rasulo, Ismail.

Goals: Williams (pen) 28, Bowditch who won pen after his shirt was tugged 76

Sheffield Wednesday Bywater, Buxton, Taylor (c), Semedo, Madine, Johnson (Mayer 13), Mattock, Pecnik (O'Grady 55), Lee was the player who stood out to me (Antonio 62), Corry, Llera.
Subs not used: Davies (GK), Sidibe, Jones, Coke.

Referee was L Collins who was pretty good and not fooled by Llera's antics 7 out of ten as he did miss a clear booking of Semedo who got away with too much I thought.

The next game was an away against Crewe but it was snowed off so back to the FA cup it was.

As we know it was last season all over again as we drew Q.P.R for the fifth round in what was the furthest we have progressed as MK Dons.

Queens Park Rangers 2-4 MK Dons
Last time round it was the fourth round we lost to a Gabbidon goal after a Wright-Phillips' corner but that replay was earnt after we were robbed at S:MK by an offside goal and a penalty not given.

As well as reaching the fourth round as MK Dons we took a record away attendance and in act sold our allocation.
Some fans moaned that the away fan ST and ST holders were not given first dips before tickets went on general sale, but even though I would have benefitted I thought due to the time involved between tickets becoming available and time to the game it was the right decision to go straight to general sale.

The game started in the best possible way when somehow the ball ended up in the QPR net at the time some said Lewie got a touch others reckoned it was an own goal either way the Dons fans were ecstatic QPR then went through a quiet few minutes before getting back into the game.

We were under a bit of presure but soaked it up and Martin made some good saves when Lowe broke free after a Kay pass and slotted ball home to make it two nil and it stayed that way till half time.

Ryan Lowe

The second half started in spectacular fashion when on fifty minutes Lowe got down the byline and made a sweet cross to Harley who mereley had to slot home for the third and the Ryan to Ryan show was really having a great time.

But we were not finished there when Potter found himself through on goal to cooly slot home the fourth and there was an exodus of QPR leaving the ground and an hour had not been played.

Now as you know I dont usauly do match reports as such but this was an historic and cracking game so Im making an exeption for this game so excuse my ham fisted way of doing it.

QPR were not at the races after the second goal and with the fans on there back seemed to get worse yes they had made nine changes but this was a Prem team with some big names and cost a darn sight more than ours and also had the luxury of bringing on Bobby Zamora at four down.

After a great workmanlike performance Smith was replaced by new loan signing Chris Lines with fifteen minutes left and all Dons fans were thinking can we keep a clean sheet as well as go through to the fifth round !

Sadly it was not to be when Zamora found an unmarked Bothroyd who nodded the ball in with seven minutes to go.

Chicksen came close just after that and tried to lob the keeper but he took a knock before his shot and again a lesser player might have gone down in the box.

Zamora and Boothroyd continued to provide us with some scary moments when our academy product Deli Ali was given a run out against the Premiership outfit.

In the dying moments Da Silva got another one back and it was getting to be a nervious time but I was worrried unnecessarily as we went on to win the game and more history was made as we looked forward to the draw for the next round.

QPR (4-4-2): Green; Fabio, Ferdinand, Ben Haim, Traore; Mackie, Fairlin, Granero, Park (c) (Zamora 67); Campbell, Bothroyd.

Subs: Murphy (GK), Derry, Hill, Onuoha, Ephraim, Mbia.

MK Dons (4-2-3-1): Martin; Otsemobor, MacKenzie (Harley 20), Kay, Lewington (c); Potter, Williams; Bowditch (Alli 90), Smith (Lines 75), Chicksen; Lowe.

Subs: Kouo-Doumbe, Flanagan, Rasulo, Ismail.

Goals: Lewington 4, Lowe 40, Harley 50, Potter 56

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) Attendance was 17,081 with a record Dons away crowd of 3155

Thanks to @mkdan for picture


In other news we said goodbye to fan's favourite Jabo Ibehre (who scored on his return to Colchester) and also to Jay O'Shea.
Charlie McDonald also left the club to go to Orient (where Jabo was rumoured to be a target).
We welcomed to the club on loan Ryan Harley from Brighton and Chris Lines from Sheffield Wednesday who we seem to have a lot of ex players from.

Yeovil 2-1 Dons
So it was back to the bread and butter of the league and a trip to Yeovil Id call them a bogey team but we seem to have so many of them I just wont bother.
There was a late pitch inspection as it had been raining heavily but the match was on.

We were now outside the play off's spots but with games in hand but a loss would mean even if we won the games in hand we would still be outside them.

The conditions helped neither team but Yeovil coped better and went a goal ahead when on loan Paddy Madden scored mid way through the first half Kay made it level after he converted a header from Harley.

Kay then went from hero to villain when he was sent off second half after a spat with Madden who then went on to score after what was seen by many to be a controversial red card.

Yeovil held on despite some pressure from the Dons but really it was another two points thrown away and the Auto spots can be forgotten and the play off's also are looking a bit dodgy as well.

Dons manager Karl Robinson told BBC Three Counties Radio:"I got told by an official today that I'm too honest and my players are too honest.
"Shaun Williams almost got his leg broken in the middle of the park, jumped back up and hobbled around. There wasn't even a booking for it.
"Izale McLeod got punched - twice. Luckily for us we've got fantastic video footage of all the incidents.
"I need to make sure there's some charge on my battery for when I phone the PGMO (Professional Game Match Officials) - whatever their job is - but you have a go at them and you get yourself done." Karl was not a happy man but I doubt anything will be done and I think he is feeling the pressure despit the good cup run he knows if promotion is not acheived this season his budget next will be cut and I think it will be bye bye Karl.

Yeovil: Stech, Ayling, McAllister, Webster, Upson, Hayter (Appiah 59), Foley, Madden, Burn, Dolan (Edwards 59), Dawson. Unused subs: Hinds, Blizzard, G.Williams, Stewart, Young.

Dons: Martin, Otsemobor (Smith 80), Lewington, S.Williams, Kay, Bowditch, Lowe (Lines 30), Harley (Doumbe 64), McLeod, Potter, Chicksen. Unused subs: Flanagan, Baldock, Alli, Ismail.
Attendance was 3,152 with 99 peed of wet and cold Dons faithful.

The rest of us are left wondering why it has all gone so wrong despite the players we have who I think are in the main as good as any in League one and many could fit in a championship side.

We all have our theories and some say we are too good for the league I can not quite see that but understand what they mean as the Football we play at times looks on another level.

But we dont play it for the whole game and shut off at times also we get caught by counter attacks after we have kept possession for long periods and do try to play the ball into the net, this coupled with fact we dont seem to be able to adapt to league one type football and fact we had strikers missing gift passes and chances means we are now a mile away from where we thought we would be.

December Blog

Man of the Match Dean Lewington


AFC V MK Dons 2-1 Sunday 2 December 2012
The first game of the month was the much anticipated match against the team from Kingston upon Thames formed in 2002 after the FA had given permission but not made mandatory the move to MK. AFC were started by over two thousand fans of Wimbledon FC who protested at the moves announcement.

The game was as we thought full of inaccurate articles in the press and media with dates of the AFC formation changed and a general MK Dons bashing was the easy lazy journalistic view of the whole move to Milton Keynes by Wimbledon FC in September 2003.

Little mention anywhere of the FA commission report or Sam Hammam the Crystal Palace twelve year ground share or the fans that did actually follow the club to MK.
No surprise the fact was not mentioned anywhere that Wimbledon directors owned MK City back in the eighties and were thinking of moving the club back then when even then Merton council were showing the club they did not want then in the borough.
At least Winkelman finally stood up for himself and said the club was in administration for seven weeks and he wondered why AFC never bought the club.

With the recent outcry over press lies about Hillsborough and phone hacking and the BBC cover up over Jimmy Savile I took the view that I would rather we were not the
darlings of the press and media and also that we are never going to be popular with them but who care's.

MK Citizen

With various AFC trust members and fans working for or friends with the press they are always going to win any media war.
But as residents of Milton Keynes we are used to being knocked and having bad press and I think that may have had a major influence on the sell out of home ends.

What did annoy me though was the vandalism that happened at the stadium and despite MK Dons emailing AFC some of the Kingston clubs officials put it down to rumours.
They also refused to refer to us by our full name(so I wont them).

Picture from MK Citizen

We all saw the pictures of the vandalism and a simple apology for the minority of their fans behaviour would not be seen as a softening of the hatred they have for the people of Milton Keynes but merely a condemnation of vandalism and football hooliganism generally they could have even worded it that way but they chose not to !

The game itself was played in the right way the players were professional and manager Neil Ardley acted with dignity in defeat as did the majority of the AFC fans.
It was a game between near top of league one and near bottom of league two so the 2-1 result was perhaps no surprise.

It was not one of the MK Dons greatest performances and judging by their league place probably one of AFC better one's but we hung on and ground out the win.

It was one of the strangest games I have ever been to, outside before the game the atmosphere was very tense but not that aggressive I have been at more aggressive atmospheres put it that way back in the bad old days of eighties.

I found it more a case of people walking on egg shells I never saw fans of either team talking to each other although not a member I know and spoke to the M.K.D.S.A Chairman John Brockwell who said he had been to the away end and welcomed the AFC fans with no problems and some even shook hands with him ,he was a braver man than me that's for sure.

I was surprised at the amount of fans AFC brought nearly their average home gate and whilst grateful of the money they spent I could not help but think it was hypocritical of them to come after the years they have been calling on other fans of other clubs to boycott us and in fact even persuaded their tenants at Kingsmeadow the FSF to call for boycotts in the National Hockey Stadium days despite FA and FL giving move all clear..
The teams lined up and were watched by former Wimbledon directors Reg Davies and Peter Cork still directors here at MK ,MK Dons 4-2-3-1 Martin a former Wimbledon player, Otsemobor who's heel of god goal will live in our memory for ever, Kay, Williams, Lewington former Wimbledon player(c); Potter, Gleeson who scored a screamer; Bowditch, Chadwick, Balanta (Ismail 66); Lowe (Smith 80).
Subs: McLoughlin, Kouo-Doumbe, MacDonald, Chicksen, Sekajja.
Goals: Gleeson 45, Otsemobor 90
AFC : Sullivan a former Wimbledon player , Osano, Long, Harrison (Strutton 72), Midson, Moore (Johnson 81), Fenlon, Gregory (c), Antwi, Mambo, Ajala.
Subs: Jaimez-Ruiz, Mitchel-King, McNaughton, Djalali.
Booked: Moore, Midson, Ajala
Goal: Midson 59
Referee: Scott Mathieson Attendance: 16, 459 With 3030 away fans.

Brentford 3-2 Dons
The next game up was away to Brentford a team who had been in a good run of form.
It was always going to be tough and after the FA Cup game the team looked out of sorts and we needed all of them to be on form.

Sadly on the day Ishmail had to be subbed early to save him getting sent off.

Balanta and Powell were having bad days Potter didn't seem to get into the game and when Semi got injured we had used all our subs the draw we deserved was not to be and we conceded a last gasp goal.

Lowe got a welcome goal and Gleeson again got on the score sheet Martin made some good saves but the Bee's were quick to punish any loose balls or mistakes we made Donaldson being the pick of the Brentford players and Lewington the M.O.T.M for the Dons.

We slipped down to sixth still in the play off spot and still within spitting distance of automatic spots.

Not a disaster as a point was all most of us thought we'd get but the point would have been easier to take.
The teams lined up
Brentford: Moore, Forshaw (Reeves 77), Craig, Dean, Douglas, Donaldson, Logan, Forrester, Diagouraga (Kiernan 62), Trotta (Hodson 90), Bidwell.
Subs: Lee, Saunders, Dallas, Hodson, Hayes.
Booked: Bidwell
Goals: Donaldson 43, Forrester 71, Donaldson 90
Teams lined up
MK Dons 4-2-3-1 Martin, Otsemobor, Kay, Williams, Lewington (c); Potter, Gleeson; Ismail (Powell 25), Chadwick (Smith 77), Balanta; Lowe (MacDonald 77).
Subs: McLoughlin, Kouo-Doumbe, Chicksen, Sekajja.
Booked: Ismail, Chadwick
Goals: Lowe 15, Gleeson 53
Referee: L Collins Attendance 5833 445 Dons fans

MK Dons 1-0 Hartlepool
This was a game I thought we would win by a good three goals but my confidence was unfounded and we made hard work of it.

The first half we were totally dominant and should have gone in to half time at least two up but one clear goal was disallowed although I thought Lowe's goal looked offside replay's showed he was on.

Hartlepool Manager John " yogi" Hughes who said after game “We wanted to frustrate in the first half and have a go in the second.”

Defender Evan Horwood who limped off early in game.

Defender Darren Holden
The second half Hartlepool got more into the game and were nowhere near as poor as they were in the first and could quite easily have have grabbed a point but Martin again saved any blushes.

Balanta was again not having a good day and the normally reliable Gleeson by his own admission had a bad game Potter missed a sitter and the crosses Bowditch kept putting in nobody could get on the end of any of them Chadwick was the pick of the bunch and got mine and sponsors M.O.M award.

The attendance was 7,164 with just 111 Poolies who had only sold 25 tickets before matchday and had no supporters coach booked to arrive on the day those that bought on the day were most likely localish.

The referee was Roger East from Wiltshire an 8 out of ten Ryan Lowe scored on 16 we had no bookings but Pool had three Antony Sweeney 44 Jack Baldwin 65 the confusingly named Greg Rutherford not the MK Athlete 86 and we move up to 5th 2 points behind Tranmere.
Teams lined up
MK Dons 4-2-3-1 Martin,Doumbe, Kay, Williams, Lewington (c) Gleeson, Potter; Bowditch, Chadwick, Balanta (Ismail 61); Lowe (MacDonald 83).

Subs not used: McLoughlin , Smith, Chicksen, Powell, Sekajja.

Hartlepool United with some very familiar names 4-4-2 Flinders; Richards, Collins, Baldwin, Horwood (Holden 5); Franks (Poole 71), Sweeney, Humphreys, Monkhouse; Wyke (Rutherford 81), Howard.

Subs not used: McHugh (GK), Murray, Johnson, Boagey.

On Wednesday 30th the Dons played in the Berks and Bucks senior cup quarter finals under the control of player manager for the night Alan Smith we comfortably beat Aylesbury Unt 4-0 the goals came from Dan Powell, Charlie MacDonald and two from our England U16 midfielder Giorgio Rasulo and put us in the semi-final with Beaconsfield SYCOB.

Smith was given the role by Karl Robinson who watched from the stands and Alan was assisted by Ian Wright.

The side for this competition will be made up of youth players and more senior squad members in need of playing time although quite why we did not start Sekajja or even give him a run out puzzled me.


Meanwhile at Tamworth the Lambs George Baldock has been scoring goals and getting many accolades from the Lambs supporters who seem keen to extend his loan.

Charlie Collins was an unused substitute during the last match.

Before the Doncaster match I spoke to Jon Otsemobor about his goal in the FA Cup and asked him if was deliberate he laughed and said he knew the ball had pace on it and stuck is leg out to make contact but was not expecting it to go in I told him we called it the heel of god and they were making T shirts he said he had heard and was going to get one.

He also said he did not know much about the rivalry between the two clubs and that Pete Winkelman had talked to the players and told them how the move came about and given the players the history Jon said he remembered Wimbledon but was just a kid when they were in Prem and I felt very old and forget how young these players are and that they probably dont know much about Wimbledon FC as it was so long ago now.



The players were due to leave for Doncaster on Friday afternoon so had a light training session or so it was meant to be but Gleeson picked up a nasty ankle injury
and was carried off leaving myself and another fan to worry about the game twenty four hours longer than most of our fans, it was a nothing looking tackle, well not even a tackle just both players going for loose ball.

The game as we know was postponed due to the rain but it seemed very odd the way Rovers said there was to be no inspection yet the referee turned up early and called the game off at 12.30 just an hour after Rovers official site said the game would be on ! I thought surely the referee must have inspected the pitch to call the game off ? A lot of our fans were rightly peed off as they thought it could have been called off earlier as rain was forecast all day in Doncaster area I'm no weather guru but Id said to mates earlier I thought it would be off looking at forecast early morning.

I was further confused when I read on the Donny site "There was no planned pitch inspection, however when the referee arrived at the ground at his normal time, 11.50am, he went out to inspect the pitch and after consulting both managers decided to call the game off on the grounds of the players’ health and safety due to a rapidly deteriorating pitch with no sign of any improvement in the weather".

As we found out after the Doncaster non game the Gleeson injury was worse than even I thought having seen it happen. Also Chadwick had picked up an injury in an earlier training session that I was not at and both players were reported to be out for weeks and probably not till March.

Personally I think it will be the difference between going up and not as Chadwick is such an inspirational player and on his day Gleeson can be a match winner.

Potter has not lived up to last season's expectations and Williams is better and now more used to being a centre back and a I don't think they will or can fill the voids left by Luke and Gleeson.

My pre match thoughts were proved to be correct and I thought we missed both players in particular Chadder's and Potter and Williams as I thought did not fill the void.
Balanta again was well.. crap, he looked disinterested and I would not be sad to see him go back to QPR.

Powell just does not seem to get the balls that lead him to make those worrying for defender run's Chicksen Lowe Bowditch and my M.O.T.M Kay could not have been the player's Robbo referred to in his comments after the match when he said “It’s easy to pick on certain players but there was a few that weren't at the races today and didn't deserve to wear our shirt, it’s as simple as that and they won’t be again if they continue like that. he went on to say “I’ll make changes on Saturday. We’re a better side than what you've seen today and we've got plenty more gears. This is a bad day at the office and you won’t see that performance on the weekend.”

There was plenty of doom and gloom amongst the fans and I think without Chadwick and Gleeson we will not be in the automatic spots come end of April the team looked disjointed and tired especially after Walsall scored the second goal.

The defence rightly got the blame but it was mistakes and loss of procession in midfield that lead to the fragile defence being put to the test.
Walsall were not a very good team, yes a bogey team for us but one we should have beaten at home Brandy and Grigg took their goals very well but apart from that the saddlers only had about six shots on goal all game and they scored four of them.

A bad day at the office yes but I fear more to come even with Jon Otsemobor and Gary MacKenzie back in defence we move down into 6th place with a game in hand over most others.
Teams for the day Dons (4-2-3-1) Martin, Chicksen who you know will get dropped when Jon is back , Doumbe who seems to be Robbo's whipping boy and out of favour (Smith 73), Kay, Lewington who had a real off day (c), Potter, Williams, Powell (Ismail 59), Balanta (Bamford 46 who again limped off injured and seems destined not to feature much for us), Bowditch, Lowe.

Subs: McLoughlin, MacDonald, Smith, Alli, Sekajja who might as well go back to parent club as he ain't going to get a game for some reason.

Booked: Potter, Smith, Ismail

Goals: Lowe 6, Bowditch 31

Walsall (4-4-1-1): McCarey; Purkiss, Downing, Butler, Taylor; Westcarr (Cuvelier 71), Mantom, Chambers, Paterson; Brandy; Grigg the M.O.M for Walsall.

Subs: Grof (GK) Holden, Hemmings, Bowerman, Benning, Baxendale.

Booked: Brandy, Butler

Goals: Brandy 15, Grigg 25, 43

Referee: Stuart Atwell was from Warwickshire not bad missed a few and was a bit inconsistent 6 out of ten.

Attendance was 8,700 and 354 quiet for the most part away fans.

Winning manager Coventry's Mark Robins.


MK Dons 2-3 Coventry
The next game was against Coventry a team we drew 1-1 against back in October and a team I said back then would not be at the bottom end of the table (as they were back then)come end of season.
Also before the Coventry game I noticed that they had signed one of our academy prospects Leon Lobjoit quite how they managed to do that while in same league as us and without the attraction of being a big Prem club I don't know, but it is worrying that we are losing future prospects to rival teams on a "technicality" as Coventry OS put it.

The game had already sold over three and a half thousand away tickets the day before the match and Coventry had managed to climb the table to within a few points of us since our last meeting whilst we have been less than convincing in our last few games.

Losing to Brentford and Walsall and narrowly beating bottom of the table Hartlepool
I don't think many of us were feeling very confident especially knowing Chadders and Gleeson were out and Jon and Gary were still a week away at least in Gary's case.

As for the game I thought we looked a lot better than the woeful performance on boxing day and probably deserved a draw but two long or hoof balls if you prefer were our undoing along with some poor defending not having seen the replays I will go on memory alone and I thought at the time of the goals Martin was at fault for one could have done better with another but was let down by defence all three times.

Lewie again was at best average Williams looked lost for the third Kay was again my M.O.T.M and must have been fuming at his three teamates.
Chico had another good game but is often to far up field when opposition attack as is Lewie.
Potter seemed to be better but not at his best young Deli was a ray of sunshine on a gloomy rainy day and I again thought he did not look out of place a great prospect if we can hold on to him.

Powell was better, Bowditch guilty of too many wayward passes Ishmail came on to late I thought and when Balanta and MacDonald came on I knew the game was up.
Teams lined up
Dons 4-2-3-1 Martin, Chicksen, Kay, Williams, Lewington (c), Potter, Alli (Ismail 71); Powell, Smith who was solid and got his usaul yellow (Balanta 58 please go back to QPR), Bowditch, Lowe (MacDonald 78).
Subs: McLoughlin , , MacKenzie, Sekajja Ibra Robbo just don't like you mate go back to Palace.

Booked: Smith, Lewington so no surprises there then.

Goals: Powell 15 well taken , Lowe 27 back to his fox in box best !


Coventry City 4-5-1 which looked like our formation tbh: Murphy, Baker (c), Fleck, McSheffrey pretty much did what he wanted(Barton 79), Elliott really good game (O'Donovan 73), Jennings, Christie, Wood, Edjenguele do not mess with the big fella , Moussa who was quality to be fair and his goal was a joy to watch, Adams.
Subs: Dunn (GK), Clarke, Thomas, Cameron, McDonald.
Booked: McSheffrey
Goals: Moussa 27, Elliott 49, 51 from long balls as I remember

Referee: Andy Woolmer who was half decent 8 out of ten from Northamptonshire.

Goal-Don Goal: 1st goal – 14.51; 2nd goal – 26.38; 3rd goal – 37.46; 4th goal – 48.11; 5th goal – 50.16

Attendance was a brilliant 13,660 made possible by the excellant and very loud at times 4,988 Coventry fans.

With the addition of Ryan Harley from Brighton I think we can push on and at least be in contention for the second Auto spot, with the addition of a hungry keen to impress winger/forward (and we need to keep hold of Ishmail) I think there is still hope.
Realisticaly I think it will be play off's again but still a long way to go as they say.
The blog has now hit 8thousand views and 747 last month, despite only ever getting about six followers on twitter to retweet it lol
Happy New Year to everyone who reads the blog and especialy those who promote it most views are direct from google at the start of month so thanks to everyone for bookmarking or favouriting it.
COYD

November Blog

The first game of the month was the game against Cambridge City in the FA Cup 1st round.
For a 1st round match this seemed to attract quite a lot of attention and before we all had the chance to buy tickets ESPN announced the game was to be televised.

The club had put into effect the rule used for limited availabilty tickets and so
tickets did not go on general sale till the Wednesday before the Friday game ST holders had from the Monday, so the bulk of tickets went in the two days before the game leaving many thinking we were going to be left with a load left over.

The capacity of ground was 1700 which has been set by the police and the local authority we were alloated 470 I assume there were some left as the club did not give out the away attendance and saw nothing on the OS saying sold out and I got no response when I tweeted the club so apologises for those who check blog for match stats.

I had a look at the City forum and noticed none of our fans had joined to say hello
so I joined up and was followed by one other Dons fan, I was then contacted by a City fan via personal message asking if I could arrange an interview with Luke Chadwick for the match day programme on the night I emailed Andrew Cullen who then contacted Simone Corgan but never heard back from the City fan or our club so not sure whether an interview was arranged.

I got no replies (but 200 odd views)either to a link I put up to our OS interview with Luke (obviously idea was adopted by us as well)and it reminded me why I don't bother with forums anymore lol.
I think in future I'll just ignore requests for help.

As for the game well it did not matter that the opposition was 100 odd places in pyramid lower than us we reverted to the familar way of all the possession but nothing up top, Mick Harford said it was the story of our season and yes we all agreed but also thought goals win games so we better start getting some or else it wont just be the FA Cup we are out of if we lose the replay.
Cambridge City (4-4-2): Man of the Match Zak Barrett, Pepper, Theobald, Chaffey, Brighton; Allen, Prada, A Cambridge (c), Abbs (Marriott 61); Hammond, Bryant (Lester 79).
Subs not used: Ordonez, Midgley, Nightingale, Death, Stynes.

MK Dons (4-2-3-1) Martin, Otsemobor, Kay, Williams, Lewington; Potter, Gleeson; O’Shea (Alli 65, Chadwick (c) (Smith 85), Chicksen, Lowe.
Subs not used: McLoughlin, Kouo-Doumbe, Galloway, Hickford, Rasulo.
Only attendance stat was 1700 which was the capacity I know a few of our fans were held up in traffic and did not make it so figure must have been tickets sold rather than actual people there I did however hear we were 12 short of allocation on the night whether that meant we sold and fans did not get there or that we did not sell 12 I have no idea.
Referee was James Adcock from Nottinghamshire.

During the first week of the month I was down at Leon Leisure Centre with my daughter and noticed there was some Primary school lads there, then the day after some older lads playing on the all weather pitches and had a feeling they were going through some kind of trials.

I got talking to the manager of the centre and was told that it was indeed trials organised by Chelsea FC.
As some of you will know I thought the abolition of the fifty mile rule to in effect poach players and the limit as to what clubs can receive as compensation for young players was a bad decision and indeed Wycombe Wanderers closed their academy as I think other League clubs will do.

I was pleased to hear that there was a man from the Dons there but I dont think in an official capacity as he manages a local boys side.

I know that it is not just Chelsea and all the Prem clubs do it (in fact Manchester City are increasing the size of thier academy probably as they can now cast net wider) but it did make me think that the talented young lads that might have been future Dons will be whisked away to London.

Also those that dont make the grade may just give up on the game at sixteen when they perhaps could have played in League One or Two and had a good career had they not had their hearts broken at not being wanted by a big club or heaven forbid end up like Leon Knight! but I suppose thats all football politics and not really Dons so I'll stop going on except to say I spoke to Mike Dove about it when I saw him and he knew about it and said they wont be there again but did not expand any more.

In other Dons news I heard the screens had all been delivered and came on six or eight lorries there seemed to be a bit of confusion ! or I just did not hear properly, if you thought the screens would come ready made up they don't they come in several parts and are made up on site and are delivered on pallets.

Also the under-soil heating was given a test run ahead of the boiler being set up and running and I was told it needs to go on four days before a game to have the full effect and the system has its own weather forecaster built in and is automatic which knowing how the weather changes so quickly in this country I was not overly confident of it to turn itself on in time ! But I guess there is a manual override somewhere.

Ahead of the game we heard we had signed striker Ibra Sekajja on a youth-loan deal until and including 1st January.

The next game was the League game against Orient the following Wednesday the game was moved by the League at Orient's request although we did object surprise surprise we were ignored and to rub the salt in the O's cup game was cancelled so could have been played Tuesday after all.

Danny Wilson was there ahead of the Sheffield game quite why Nigel Clough was due to be there I don't know but it was nice to see John Motson make another appearance but he did not have his sheepskin on for those wondering and I never got to speak to him this time either as I did not see him till he was going through the door.

As for the game we started brightly and were the better team throughout the first half and really should have been two or three up by half time but guess what, we failed to convert the chances we created.
Allsop was having a great game as goalies seem to do against us lately .

The half time team talk did not seem to inspirational as we looked out of sorts and although again had chances we were never very threatening and I did not think we would get another it had that feel about it.

The O's could have quite easily nicked a point but in truth they were as poor as us in front of goal the game got a bit testy and Slade got sent to the stands right at the end of the game. The win meant we move up to eighth.
Teams lined up
MK Dons 4-2-3-1 Martin, Otsemobor, Kay (Doumbe 83), Williams, Lewington (c); Potter, Gleeson; Bowditch (Chicksen 75), Chadwick who was M.O.T.M, Balanta who looked unfit Lowe (MacDonald 81).
Subs not used: McLoughlin, A Smith, Alli, Sekajja.
Booked just Gleeson
A bright spot was the goal by Lowe on 41 which may restore his confidence.
Leyton Orient Allsop, Sawyer, Chorley, Griffith (Cox 74), Clarke (c), Odubajo, Cook, Rowalands (J Smith 81), James, Wagstaff (Lisbie 66), Mooney.
Subs not used: Jones, McSweeney, Baudry, Brunt.
Booked just Cox
Referee was Robert Lewis who was another 7 out of 10 who came from Shropshire.
The attendance was 6,985 with 299 although looked less very silent away fans.

With three home games in a week and this one with Sheffield United coming just three days after the O's match I was not to confident.
United were strong last season and I like many others fancy them to go up automatically this season and when I met up with the match day crowd they were also predicting a home loss.

The game was very entertaining and I thought we played some of the best football I have seen this season Lewie deservedly got M.O.T.M and Im not even going to be too harsh about the missed chances as I thought overall it was the result that counted that day.

Danny Wilson former Dons manager arriving for MK Dons v Sheffield United game.

Back again on loan from QPR Angelo Balanta

Ibra Sekajja on loan till January 1st from Crystal Palace.

Before the game I thought how we played today would give the best indication to date of whether we really are promotion contenders and I thought we more than matched United and although biased were the better team and created the better of the chances.

I thought the referee was perhaps one of the worst I have seen this season getting some major decisions wrong, the linesmen on the east side was flagging for offside's that were not, for both sides and I say this after we won so hopefully it means more !
To highlight just the main bad decision were Angelo Balanta who was turning away from goal when he was brought down by David McAllister a soft penalty by anyone's standard.

Bowditch's non penalty was the worst though when he was brought down by Harry Maguire
and caused a near incident minutes later at half time when the players had to be escorted off by Robbo as some surrounded Darren Sheldrake for not awarding the penalty.

The Dons have now won three league games in a row without letting in a goal and we are looking forward to Tuesday and more of the same we move up to seventh but more importantly was the performance.
Dons lined up Martin, Otsemobor, Lewington, Williams, Gleeson, Potter, Bowditch, Lowe (Smith 58), Kay, Chadwick, Balanta (Doumbe 91). Unused subs: McLoughlin, MacDonald, Chicksen, O’Shea, Sekajja.

Booked just Chadwick for his trademark late challenge.
Sheffield United lined up Long, Maguire, Hill(McAllister 46), Flynn, Doyle, Porter, Blackman (Miller 73), McDonald, Collins, McMahon (Westlake 25), Williams. Unused subs: Willis, Cresswell, Ironside, Kennedy.
Booked for United was Maguire who was lucky to finish the game.
Referee the bloody awful Darren Sheldrake.
Attendance was 9,835 there were 1,854 United fans though looked more who did not make that much noise surprisingly. The Dons fans were in great voice and were the twelfth man that day which you could say we needed as the ref seemed to be a blade.

Next game up was the replay with Cambridge City
in the FA Cup. And I did laugh when I think it was the Sky camera man was looking for City fans and had to go up to bar in hotel to find some.

When he came back down with a dozen or so he had them walk to the Hotel entrance as if arriving what I thought was funny was that two had on back packs one with a Chelsea crest on the back and one with a Spurs crest and I thought blimey its like the early days at the Hockey Stadium before we got our own identity and fans started buying the Dons gear.

Steve Claridge turned up as did a number of folk from the FA including Peter Braybrook who is a very nice chap to talk to.

I thought when Williams got that first goal it would be three or even four but I did not expect six.

I thought the team played well and was really impressed with Deli Alli who I gave the man of the match to , even Jay said when he collected the award from the match day sponsor he thought Deli was the man on the night.

So we all know who we will face next and I'm not going to go on about it here as there are other matches this month.

MK Dons (4-2-3-1): Martin; Kouo-Doumbe, Kay, Williams, Lewington (c); Gleeson, Alli (Galloway 78); Bowditch (Chicksen 61), MacDonald, O'Shea; Lowe (Rasulo 68).

Subs not used: McLoughlin, Smith, Spence.

Goals: Williams 12, 74 (pen), O’Shea 43, Bowditch 45, Alli 75, Chicksen 77

Cambridge City had some brilliantly named players and lined up 4-4-2 Barrett, Pepper who was not to be sneezed at , Theobald, Chaffey, Brighton; Allen (sub was man with six pack Joey Abbs 69), aptly named Cambridge (c) (Nightingale no Florence joke from me 61), Prada one for the ladies (Lester 69), Marriott; Bryant, Hammond.

Subs not used: Ordonez, Midgley, Stynes. The goal by Theobold was on 60

Referee: Neil Miller from County Durham who I thought was pretty good 8 out of 10.

The attendance was not bad for a first leg replay of 4,129 with 579 away fans though I suspect they wont get that many next home game.

The next game was away to Tranmere Rovers who are still top of the league and like the Sheffield Unt game I was again not to confident and again was proven wrong.

The Dons were totally dominant especially in the first half and even in the second rarely troubled. Chadwick seemed to go where he wanted and all the midfield had shots on goal even Lewie had a shot and header on target but we again could not get the ball in the bloody net Lowe missed a gift of a chance when one on one with Fon Williams but somehow put the ball wide !

With the minutes ticking away most of us thought oh well a point on the road is okay when Gleeson toe poked in after some good work from Bowditch found the ball in the crowded box.
Ronnie Moore said Tranmere were out footballed and we got some great comments from neutrals watching the match on Sky , tickets were a fiver and the gate was over ten thousand on the night.
The win took us up to second for a night (as it was Friday night and our rivals played on the following day).

The Dons have played three games in ten days and beaten the two top sides and played again on Tuesday night when they travelled to Shrewsbury Town.
Teams lined up
Tranmere Rovers Fon Williams, Holmes, Taylor, Gibson, Bakayogo, Robinson, Wallace (c), Palmer, McGurk (Stockton 90), Cassidy, Jervis (Harrison 46).

Subs not used: Mooney (GK), M Kay, Goodison, Power, Kirby

Booked: Cassidy, Jervis

MK Dons 4-2-3-1 Martin; Otsemobor, A Kay, Williams, Lewington (c); Gleeson, Potter; Bowditch, Chadwick (Doumbe 90), Balanta (Powell 65); Lowe (Smith 54).

Subs not used: McLoughlin (GK), Chicksen, Powell, O’Shea, Sekajja.

Goal by Gleeson on 87

Referee was M Naylor from South Yorkshire who again was okay 7 out of ten.

Attendance: 10,587

After beating the top two sides it was probably always going to be a tougher game than it looked on paper and it proved to be just that.

We had slipped down to 4th after the Saturday games so with a win at Shrewsbury we could have gone up to 3rd so understandably a few of the fans got a bit carried away with their predictions, as it turned out a draw was enough and we did move up to 3rd.

I did actually think we might lose having been on a good run, it would be just our luck to lose to Shrewsbury, another of the clubs you can put in the don't let facts get in the way of a good fairy tale club.

In fact Robbo got very annoyed at the comments in the match day programme which were unprofessional, and a rehash of an article they used years ago but still just as crap.

We really were not at the races on the night and probably did deserved to lose but Bowditch managed to save two points in injury time the goal listed as 90th minute.
After beating the top two sides it was probably always going to be a tougher game than it looked on paper and it proved to be just that.

Teams lined up Shrews Weale, Grandison, Jacbson, Summerfield, Jones, Wright the former Don scored against his former club, Richards, Morgan, Taylor, Bennettt, Rodgers. Unused subs: Anyon, Purdie, Hall, Doble, Goldson, Wildig, Helan.

Dons lined up Martin, Otsemobor, Lewington who appeared to pick up a knock(Chicksen came on and livened us up a bit on 58), Williams, Gleeson, Potter, Bowditch, Smith, Kay, Chadwick (MacDonald came on and again looked like his confidence has gone 74), Balanta (Powell came on and shortly limped off 58). Unused subs: McLoughlin, Doumbe, Lowe, Sekajja still has not got a decent run out. Balanta scored on 46 and Bowditch the M.O.M on 90 so late goals both halves.

Att: 4747 the traveling Dons army totaled 183 on a wet night.

The Referee was Darren Drysdale who let game flow a 6 out of 10 was okay but missed some incidents.

In other news Jay O'Shea went out on loan to Chesterfield the day Powell limped off at Shrewsbury but Angelo's loan was extended till January.

Flanagan returned from Gillingham needing an operation on his ankle.

On Thursday 22nd we signed on loan Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford the 19 year old is here till the New Year.

On Friday we heard we had signed from a winger from Wolves at the last minute of emergency loan window quite why it is an emergency I don't know ! but anyway it is 18-year-old Zeli Ismail.

I met both players on the Friday before Colchester game and both were very polite and happily posed for pictures.
A funny story I can tell you was when the players had finished training they put all the boots in a container to be cleaned ahead of the game and Zeli chucked his in with the rest but Patrick asked Karl " don't we clean our own boots" Karl said well you can if you want then laughed and Patrick threw his in as well. I thought that was really quite refreshing to see, a young footballer who cost Chelsea one and a half million ask if it was okay and not just assume it was going to be done it also showed that he was used to (and said he does)doing his own at Chelsea.

Karl then asked Zeli what he did with his and he replied in the container to which Karl said jokingly "big time charlie" but with more a player banter type comment attached, suppose you had to be there but it was very funny and proved how down to earth these young talents are.

Zeli Ismail on loan from Wolves

Patrick Bamford on loan from Chelsea

And so onto the game against Colchester Gleeson had pulled up injured during training so I was wondering what formation Robbo would use as Gleeson was due to play but he captained the side in Lewie's absence so injury was obviously not as bad as we thought.

The game was like the weather first ten minutes or so pretty dreary but then we started to put some nice moves together.
Chadwick and Bamford seemed to be on the same wavelenght and looked like they had played together for years.

The goal came on 28 after some nice play between the Chelsea loanee and the former Man Unt player after that we kept pushing and making chances until Bamford was brought down and Williams duly despatched the penalty.

The second half slighty swung Colchesters way as Massey came on but not for long as from a corner Otsemobor scored and that was game over.

Just three minutes later the U's got lucky and grabbed a consulation goal but you are never as vulnerable as when you have just scored they say and a minute later Chadwick made it 4-1. Lowe came on and worked hard and was rewarded with his name on the score sheet when he curled his shot into the top corner.

It was as dominant and near perfect performance as you will see anywhere and we move up to second in the league and into the automatic spots.

Still a long way to go but it sets up the cup game next week perfectly.
Teams lined up Dons 4-2-3-1 Martin, Otsemobor, Williams sponsors M.O.M, Kay, Chicksen, Gleeson (c), Potter, Bowditch (Sekajja 85), Chadwick my M.O.M(Ismail 76), Balanta, Bamford JUST pipped by Luke for M.0.M(Lowe 69).

Subs: McLoughlin, Doumbe, MacDonald, Galloway, Sekajja.The goals were Chadwick 28, 64, Williams (pen) 37, Otsemobor 60, Lowe 82

Colchester United (4-3-3) Sullivan, Wilson, Okuonghae, Eastman (Thompson 70),Potts; Bond (Massey 46), Eastmond (Duguid 70), Wordsworth, Henderson, Morrison former Dons loan player, Sears.

Subs: Cousins , Rose, Bean, White, Thompson.

Booked Okuonghae, Morrison Sent-off Massey for the nasty tackle on Chicksen was on 66

Goal: Hendersen 63
Attendance 7443 330 away fans
Referee Darren Deadman and amazingly he was okay for a change 7/10.
Martin, Otsemobor, Williams, Gleeson, Potter, Bowditch (Sekajja 85), Chicksen, Kay, Chadwick (Ismail 77), Balanta, Bamford (Lowe 69). Unused subs: McLoughlin, Doumbe, MacDonald, Galloway.

The next game is the FA Cup 2nd round with us playing hosts to the team from Kingston upon Thames as they have acted unprofesionaly in not giving our club its full name I will not refer to them by the name they use.

The game is looking to be a near sell out as area's will be closed to segregate fans and nuetral sections will not be as used as the club thought they would be.

Perhaps the most surprising thing is AFC have not boycotted as they always said they would (and in fact told other fans of clubs we have played to so do)but have sold the allocation they asked for and indeed asked for another thousand !

I can only think/hope that the AFC fans are not as full of hate as the board members and hierarchy of the club and though will never like us perhaps they prefer to support the team rather than listen to the few elite that run the "fans" club and seem more interested in MK than what the majority of the fans want.

On Sunday 9th December there is a darts night at the stadium in aid of Prostate cancer and S.E.T there will be at least seven members of the first team including Mick Harford.
Adrian Lewis and Steve Beaton will be amongst the darts players there and there will be celebrity guests on the night but I dont know who they will be yet.
It promises to be a great afternoon and night and tickets can be bought by calling box office at MK Dons.
COYD

Winkelman Talks about AFC the Move and his Feelings

http://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news/pete-winkelman-i-m-proud-of-what-we-ve-achieved-1-4476577?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=dlvr.it

PETE Winkelman admits he has some regrets about how Wimbledon’s move to Milton Keynes came about, but now, as chairman of MK Dons, he is extremely proud of what the club has achieved.

Speaking to local media after Dons beat Cambridge City to set up an FA Cup second round tie against AFC Wimbledon, Winkelman had a lot to get off his chest, and started by insisting that he is delighted to see the two clubs finally set to play each other.

He said: “It’s a fixture we’ve been waiting for. The whole of football has been waiting for this.

“I didn’t want to get too carried away (when the draw was made) because of course a couple of years ago we were close to this moment and we managed to turn victory into defeat that night, and the game didn’t happen.

“So I absolutely wanted the whole club to concentrate on Cambridge City. If we got the result we could then get around to thinking about what is going to be a massive game!

“To be honest I wanted this game the soonest it could possibly happen. I think it’s great, actually, that it’s happened now because AFC Wimbledon have done the amazing journey into the Football League.

“But in that time of course we have also built our stadium – built a home for our football club, and we’ll be very proud to show that off. So I couldn’t wait to get it done.

“With a bit of luck, for the whole of football, it will enable us to draw a line in the sand and start looking forwards rather than continuously looking backwards. And until this game happened, there would always have been an element of looking backwards.”

With talk of AFC Winbledon fans boycotting the second round tie at stadium:mk – likely to be confirmed as being played at lunchtime on Sunday, December 2 – Winkelman accepts that, regardless of what we says, he is never going to change some people’s opinions about Wimbledon’s move to Milton Keynes.

Despite that, he offered his explanation of how the move happened, and said it was a case of trying to turn a bad set of circumstances into a good thing.

“I’m not proud of the way this club can to be,” he said. “It’s very hard for me to live with that because I’m trying to be a very good chairman of a football club.

“I’m trying to create an infrastructure that could take this club all the way to the Premier League. We are hugely proud of the home we have built for football in Milton Keynes.

“I hope the rest of football will see that, whilst we might have had a hell of a controversial beginning. And whilst it might not have the been the best idea in the world to move a football club – as the owner and chairman of a football club now, of course, I get that – but I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the last eight years.

“To most people in football, the way they imagine how the thing happened is so different to the way that it actually did. I suppose the biggest thing about that was the fans did win the battle with Wimbledon.

“We did do a deal with Norwegian billionaires, and we did mistakenly give them Milton Keynes as an option, when they were going to go to Dublin, because I naively thought that might be better.

“But they didn’t really have any other option, and the fans won because they formed AFC Wimbledon, and went and had their first promotion in their first season, and made sure that the club went into administration.

“So actually, it wasn’t the big Norwegian billionaire owners that moved the club to Milton Keynes, it was an administrator that said ‘I’m going to liquidate this club tomorrow unless you come up with the money to keep it going’. And the only way I could come up with the money to keep it going was to move it to Milton Keynes.

“For the first seven weeks of that administration we did nothing. I will never understand why AFC Wimbledon didn’t buy their club. That’s the bit that always confuses me, that we actually had the opportunity to buy the club in the end.

“Once we made that decision – a very difficult decision – we have never taken our foot off the gas. I’ve tried to make a bad decision a good decision by the things that we’ve gone on to do.

“And I think we have done that. It’s about the home we have created, but it’s also about the heart that we’ve created in Milton Keynes.

“This is a monumental happening. There is no other football club with the story of Wimbledon FC. It’s given birth to the most successful fan-owned club in the country and one of the biggest, brightest new football clubs in the country – all at the same time.

“We’ll never be friends. But we are related, and I hope we can go and have a great family get-together.”

Considering fears that the game could generate a potentially hostile atmosphere in and around stadium:mk, Winkelman wanted to ease any concerns from fans, and actually said he wanted the cup clash to be a friendly occasion for everyone concerned.

“I’m hoping every MK Dons fan is going to come out for it,” he said. “I think the irony will be that probably the loudest roar of the day will not be for AFC Wimbledon, not for MK Dons, but for Wimbledon.

“It’s our job to put on the safest, best organised, friendliest game that there has been in football. I don’t care about the result. I think what’s going to be important about this is that the game takes place and we draw that line, so everyone can look to the future.”

October Blog

Sad to see the Back of Jimmy Bullard ! Picture was taken as Jimmy arrived for Blackburn game watched by Karl Robinson sadly Jimmy did not make many appearances in the Players entrance.

The month of October started with the sad but not unexpected news that Jimmy Bullard had been forced to retire due to a recurring knee injury I met and spoke to Jimmy a few times but not as many times as Id have liked and like many fans I would have liked to see him play a lot more here at MK Dons.

Jimmy's career has included stints with West Ham Peterborough Wigan Athletic, Fulham Ipswich and Hull City the midfielder has had a 14-year playing career but has been plagued with injury in later years.

Jimmy ruptured the cruciate ligaments in his knee twice in three years once at Fulham and again on his debut for Hull in 2009 and three years on the pain and playing restrictions forced Bullard to visit a consultant the last week of September after the news broke Jimmy said “My old knee injury has never allowed me to get back to where I want to be as a football player; it’s always hindered me. There are a lot of games in this League and I now know my knee won’t allow me to play Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday, it’s not built for that now.I want to be out there playing but at the same time I know my knee won’t allow me to play at my best and to keep my place in the team. I’m hindering myself more than I am helping myself for the future.” This ended his career just four weeks after Jimmy signed a short-term deal with the Dons.
Jimmy added “I honestly think MK Dons can do something special with the manager and the group of players they have here. I wish them all the best and I hope they realise how lucky they are to be at a Club like this and to play for a manager like Karl, because he’s going to achieve great things for this Club. I believe he is going to become a top manager.

Good Luck Jimmy and I am sure whatever you do in the future it will be with a smile on your face.

Our next game and first of the month was against Coventry a team that not so long ago were top flight , like us they have a 32 thousand seater stadium although theirs is complete.
The attendance's this season have been about the same as ours no doubt boosted by away fans wanting to see the once Prem boys ground..
Sadly the fixture was on a Tuesday night which meant a lot of our away regulars could not attend but 697 of the MK Army did make the trip.

Coventry have had a rubbish start to the season and sat in the relegation zone but under new manager Mark Robins had just picked up a win the Saturday before.


The game followed a now familiar patten with the Dons starting slowly and under pressure and even conceded an early'ish goal.


Gleeson got a goal from a deflected shot after we had a free kick and we were then back in the game but Charlie again missed a sitter when he seemed to get tangled up in his own feet and Powell missed a chance as well the rest of the team seemed frightened to shoot and the game played out to a frustrating one all draw with the whole second half a nail-biting frustrating affair.

I don't think Coventry will be in the relegation zone for long but at the time it was on paper a game we perhaps should have won. I consoled myself with the fact it was a point on the road which I am usually happy with but this pattern of being the stronger team and missing chances is now getting boring.
The teams lined up
Coventry: Murphy, Baker, McSheffrey (Fleck 68) , Barton (Ball 78), Christie, Wood, Edjenguele (Cameron 68), McGoldrick, Moussa, Reckord, Bailey. Unused subs: Dunn, Hussey, Willis, Henderson.Goal was by Wood on 34
Dons: Martin, Otsemobor, Lewington, Williams, Gleeson, Potter, Bowditch, MacDonald (Smith 79), Powell, Kay, Chadwick (O'Shea 73) Unused subs: McLoughlin, Doumbe, Chicksen (why is he not starting ?), Lowe, O'Shea, Allan.
The goal by Gleeson was on 42
Attendance was 9,948 and 697 were Dons fans where have all Coventry's fans gone ?
The draw meant we slipped down to fifth from third going into the Portsmouth game.

On Thursday I spoke to Karl at Woughton and mentioned the missed chances and the fact Id seen the strikers and wingers working on shooting with Wrighty that morning.

Karl said we work on it all the time and that it was frustrating for him watching the players not shooting or missing chances, Id said that it was the tap in's we seem to be missing and Karl then mentioned the players he had wanted to bring in and that he had been told he cant have them.

Karl also said later when myself and another fan asked about Portsmouth that although they are on one month contract's a few are on a lot more than any of our players including Izale ! I got the impression Karl is feeling some pressure although we are fifth in the league and still well placed to push on.

I thought at the start of the season that as a club we seem to be expecting to get Automatic and that this does put a hell of a lot of pressure on the manager and players !



Portsmouth

Portsmouth manager Micheal Appleton signs autographs as he arrives at StadiumMK

I got to the stadium about one o'clock and there were already a lot of Pompey fans about with one coach arriving about half twelve I was told.

I got chatting to a couple of Pompey fans and they informed me of the current situation regarding the administration and likely buyers but did not think that the fan trust option could work but it might be the only one ! they also said they still could not believe they were in third division and said that the Championship was the league they enjoyed most as the Prem seemed to be about survival and they thought it was quite boring knowing they would finish on forty points and just survive.

The game itself started very badly for the Dons and within 4 minutes the Dons all time leading scorer Izale McLeod did what returning players often do and scored against his old club, and this was after a missed pen by captain Brian Howard that Izale had earned Pompey.

And the pressure was on and continued until Gabor Gyepes put us under even more re on 20 minutes when he made it two nil.

The Dons seemed to get over the shock of the mad first half hour of pressure and slowly got back into the game then Webster managed to get the ball in his own net after a cross from Lewie was knocked on from Kay and it was game on.

Second half was altogether a more even affair and Potter slotted the ball in after Powell missed his chance and it was honours even, we kept pressing but again miss having a striker that can actually score even Chadders missed a chance.

I thought Mustapha Dumbuya and Wesley Thomas were the pick of the Pompey players and keeper Andersen incidentaly all are on loan Thomas from Bournemouth the other two from Reading.
The teams lined up Dons: Martin; Otsemobor (Smith 33), Kay, Williams, Lewington (c); Potter, Gleeson; Powell, Chadwick, Bowditch; MacDonald (Allan 69)
Goals were by: Webster (og) 40 and Potter 72
We had two booked: Kay and Smith
Subs not used: McLoughlin, Chicksen, Kouo-Doumbe, O’Shea

Pompey: Andersen; Dumbuya, Michalik, Gyepes, Webster; Williamson, Ertl, Howard (c) (Buzasaky 81), Harley; Thomas (Obita 81), McLeod
Goals by McLeod 4 and Gyepes 20
Booked just McLeod old habits and all that.
Subs not used: Eastwood, Walker, Compton, Harris, Rodgers

The Referee was David Coote who I did not think was as bad as some thought I probably give him a seven out of ten.

Attendance was 10,409 helped by an excellent 2,552 very noisy Pompey fans.
But it was really all about Izale that day.

Izale McLeod Still MK Dons all time leading goalscorer and likely to remain so on our current strikers form.

Before the Preston game there was a behind closed door match against Brighton, as it was at the Stadium we did not get to see it but reading the two clubs reports it seems both clubs were happy with the performances and no injuries were sustained.

We had two trialists playing but neither have been named one came on and set up Alli and then scored himself I often hear who the trialists are but most of the time nothing comes of it so I don't bother and really think its not fair to name them unless Im told it does not matter.

Dons played a mixture of returning from injury players, trialists and players who haven't had a game for a while along with some of the academy players.
McLoughlin had a good game by all accounts and the teams lined up
Dons in the usaul first team 4-2-3-1 formation: McLoughlin; Osae (Trialist 46), Hickford, Doumbe, Chicksen, Galloway, Alli; Osei-Addo (Summerfield 77), Allan, Trialist; Lowe.

Subs not used keeper Charlie Burns.
Goals: Alli 47, Trialist 58

Albion used a 4-3-3 formation East, Sampayo, Dunk, Jones (Akubuine 66), Painter; Richards (Peake 83), March, Gray (Wiltshire 60); Barker, Goodwin, Agdestein. Subs not used: Keeper Smith .

There was good and bad news later in the week when we heard Gary MacKenzie would be out for three months but that Doumbe was unscathed from his run out against Brighton and was fit to play on Sunday against Preston North End.

Our next game was against Preston and we have never beaten them so expectation's were not really high.
The game was on Sky but it probably was not the best game for the viewing public as the teams cancelled each other out for the better part of the game.

It was a typical Dons performance in many ways and we again lacked the killer blow in the final third I commented on twitter through the game that we seem to have a player missing ! by that I mean we get those crosses in the box and there is no one there to tap in usually because we are not playing 4-4-2 or in the second half at Deepdale because when we do we have no fox in the box.


Sodje missed a couple of sitters and if truth were told Preston had the better of the chances although I thought we were slightly the better team..but I think we have heard that a few too many times this season.

The most controversial decision of the game I thought was the blatant penalty that was not seen by either the referee or the ideally placed Linesman, or assistant referee as they like to be called but in reality they rarely assist.

MacDonald was clearly brought down by Stuckmann but the referee bizarrely awarded a goal kick and more surprisingly not booking McDonald who he obviously thought dived.

The pundits Ronnie Moore and Peter Beagrie in the Sky studio both agreed it was a stonewall penalty as did many Preston fans, in fact it was hard to find anyone who thought otherwise.

Another draw and although almost always welcome on the road at this quarter way through the season stage one has to wonder if the Auto spots are a realistic target !

Yes we are playing at times some nice football no hoofball and no dirty tactics but we are not getting those results that are the difference between the teams that get promoted and the also rans.

The teams lined up Preston North End: Stuckmann, Keane, Laird, Wroe, Huntington (Robertson, 35), Wright, Monakana, Welsh, Beavon, Sodje (Cummins, 82), Hayhurst (Mousinho, 46). Subs not used: Simonsen, Amoo, Cummins, Procter, King.

Dons Lined up: Martin, Otsemobor, Lewington, Doumbe, Williams, Gleeson, Potter, Bowditch, Smith (Lowe, 64), Chadwick, Allan (McDonald, 64). Subs not used: Chicksen, McLoughlin, O’Shea.

Attendance was 8,327 with 177 annoyed Dons fans.

The referee was Craig Pawson who up till the penalty appeal was not too bad well for what we are used to in League one anyway.

We stay seventh for the second week and next up we have a local Derby with Wesley's former team high flying Stevenage

Stevenage Manager Gary Smith

Next up was a home game against Stevenage who have had a great start to the season with just a minor blip the week before.
In fact they have had the sort of start we wish we had.

Stevenage also get my newly created award for the friendliest players and manager to come to Milton Keynes, all the players stopped and chatted and Robin Shroot even got a couple of tickets for one of the fans.

I was chatting to one of the fans and his mum and they said they are always like that and couple of players even knew them by name and said hello as they arrived.

As for the game well it was same old same old we probably deserved a draw but the headers and shots we did have were weak and the keeper made good saves and held on to the ball to deny any tap in we could have got.
To make things worse Gleeson will be out for up to three months after a foot injury.

Robin Shroot

Mark Roberts

We now moved down the table into eighth place as other results helped us not slip down any further, few boo's at the end and even odd shout of Robbo out which is a bit over the top considering we were playing a good side.
But the frustration of a toothless strike force and a loss at home and the high expectation of fans this season seemed to boil over.
As a crowd we were the quietest I have (not) heard all season made worse by the as always noisy Stevenage lot.
Teams lined up
Dons the not working 4-2-3-1: Martin, Otsemobor (Chicksen 62), Kouo-Doumbe, Williams, Lewington (c), Potter, Gleeson, Chadwick, Allan, O’Shea (MacDonald 62), Smith (Lowe 62).
Subs not used: McLoughlin, Kay.

Booked just Chicksen according to OS but Otsemobor got a yellow as I remember.

Stevenage also lined up 4-2-3-1 but got a goal: Arnold, Gray, N’Gala, Roberts (c), Charles; Tansey, Dunne; Akins, Morais (Rogers82), Freeman (Risser 72), Haber.

Subs not used: Day, Ball, Iro, Lopez, Shroot.

Booked Charles according to OS but I thought there was another but couldn't find record of it on BBC match report and can not be bothered to look elsewhere.

Referee: Andrew Madley from West Yorkshire who was okay seven out of ten.

Attendance: 9,190 1,019 noisy away fans.

The FA Cup first round draw saw us get an away draw at Cambridge City which has gone down well with everyone including City fans who are buzzing about the draw the only downside was the amount of tickets we were allocated due to the size of the Milton Road ground.

So after the home loss it was back on the road to newly promoted Crawley for the Tuesday night game.
But just before the game came the news that Angelo Balanta the QPR winger had signed up for his third spell at the Dons by agreeing a one-month loan move.

The 22-year-old, whose last senior appearance was for the Dons last December ,Angelo was available for the trip to Crawley.

However he will not be allowed to play in the FA Cup first round tie at Cambridge City on 2 November.

Balanta played 49 games during his two previous loan stints at Stadium MK and scored 12 goals.

Angelo's QPR appearances have been few and far between and last played in April 2010 but he has signed a new two-year contract in the summer.

But even the return of Angelo was not enough to change the fortune's of the team and we lost 2-0 Karl said after the game he was sounding like a broken record and I feel the same writing about the matches lately, better team missed chances etc etc we have now slipped down to tenth in the league and look more like a pretty football playing mid table team than a promotion chasing efficient one.

The fans are getting restless and more annoyed by the week and I think the reasons are clear for us all to see, the system is not working ! we have not got Keith Andrews or Lloyd Dyer or even Peter Leven to get goals from midfield and the strikers we have got are not capable of playing to any effect the lone striker role.

The teams lined up
Crawley Town: P Jones, Sadler, McFadzean, Akpan (Torres 86), Clarke (M Jones 90), Alexander (c), Simpson, Bulman (Connolly 86), Adams, Bryne, Davis.

Subs not used: M Kuipers, Connolly, Forte, Hunt.

Booked: Clarke, Davis

Goals: both by Clarke on 21 and 89

MK Dons: Martin; Otsemobor, Kouo-Doumbe, Kay, Lewington (c); Potter, Williams; Powell, Chadwick (Smith 74), Balanta (Chicksen 65); MacDonald (Lowe 46).

Subs not used: McLoughlin, Gleeson who's injury was not as bad as first thought, O’Shea, Allan who now return's to his parent club.

Booked: Just Williams

Referee was Simon Hooper the attendance was 2,853 with 249 Dons fans.

So it was off Scunthorpe a team that according to Karl have a third of the budget they had when in the Championship and judging by the attendance on the day about a fifth of the fans they had then.

Languishing at the bottom end of the table it was a good time to play them at their place the fans are unhappy and the manager under pressure and Scunthorpe's problems seem massive compared to ours going into the game.

But you still have to win the games and with our recent worries I was not that convinced when I saw the starting line up with Doumbe left out and Chicksen left on the bench again , we seemed to be relying on lone striker Alan Smith who has scored twice in five years to get us on the score sheet.

Apart from a few spells we bossed the game and for a change our recent and usual dominance resulted in goals with MOTM Luke Chadwick grabbing a brace and Smith getting a tap in (although it came off a centre back last). Luke's first was a bit on the lucky side with Slocombe fumbling his save and giving Luke the chance to bury the goal but we have not had that bit of luck of late so I'll take it, his second was featured on SSN as possible goal of the day but his hatrick alluded him as Slocombe guessed right and saved the penalty.

I think that game was quite a turning point and fully expect us to push on in the League where we climb from 10th to 8th and the Auto dream was alive again and definitely within reach of the Play Off's.

The teams lined up
Scunthorpe United: Slocombe, Ribeiro, Walker, Mirfin, Reid (c), Jennings (Ryan 71), Duffy, Collins, Newey, Hawley, Prutton (Grella 64).
Subs not used: Severn, Kennedy, Gibbons, Canavan, Keegan.

Dons lined up: Martin; Otsemobor, Kay, Williams, Lewington (c); Potter, Gleeson; Powell (Chicksen 37), Chadwick (O’Shea 84), Balanta; Smith (Lowe 75).
Subs not used: McLoughlin, MacDonald, Alli.
Booked: The usaul suspects Kay and Smith
Goals by Chadwick were on 17 and 30, and Smith on 60
Referee was Dean Whitestone
Attendance was another low one of 2,737 with 164 very cold Don's fans.

Man of the Match Luke Chadwick

So one win in the whole of October and a frustrating time for many of us but such is the League this season with no real runaway leaders we are still up there.

Stevenage lost and Tranmere drew losing points, in fact point wise we are still up there with the pack chasing Automatic, and right there with the play off contenders.

Crawley are up to second which makes our loss there seem a bit more bearable in fact none of the League one teams won at home on Saturday 27th.

But at the end of last month I wrote that we were third and had seventeen points one behind Notts and just four away from Tranmere with nine games gone.
We are now eighth with twenty three points 15 games into the season.

We are 2 points behind Notts and are now 8 points behind leaders Tranmere and 6 points behind second and third place Crawley and Stevenage.

Next up the magic of the FA Cup and away to Cambridge City the game will be on ESPN on Friday night if you can not be there for any reason and it will be a nice pay day for City.
COYD