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

September Blog Part Two

The month of September so far up to the Yeovil game had been commented on a lot and on reflection there was almost a sense of mid season pessimism about our progress.
I was probably amongst the disappointed but not in the were doomed club, after the Glovers game I looked at the table and results and it did not look so bad ! six games in with ten points and only four behind the leaders who were not Bournemouth or Sheffield Unt as some had predicted.

In fact Bournemouth were nearer the bottom than the top of the table and that is with Harry Rednapp there giving his services for free .. allegedly.

So after the euphoria of the Glovers win had subsided and I was in more reflective mood I thought really the only bad result was Walsall, a draw at Bournemouth and the loss to Swindon over the season are probably the kind of results one would expect.
Of course the sore point is the red cards and I think that more than the results was what most of us were upset about.

The first game of the second September blog is the home game with Notts County a team who have spent a bit and seem to have a decent budget and are also ahead of us at this early stage in the league table they also have 29 players which is a big squad these days.

Looking at Notts recent past with Allen and Ince and now Curle it seems we have an old established set up with the same manager through their managerial crisis's in fact it seems like Robbo has been here forever.

The fact we are the youngest League club and they are the oldest in the world does seem to laugh in the face of the old traditionalists that say history is all in important , when you consider the recent problems Notts have had with the phoney businessmen and banks promising them Prem in three years the arrival of Sven and Sol and even hastier departure our grumbles about cladding and car parks seem quite petty.

The Infamous Lee Hughes arrives at SMK

The manager Kieth Curle arrived with the players but sat on the coach for over twenty minutes before getting off in fact I got bored waiting and went for a coffee I remembered Warnock did the same thing when he came with QPR and Curle who was his assistant must have learnt that off him lol.

The game itself was Id imagine for the neutral quite good Jamal Campelll-Ryce being the pick of the Notts players for me which was annoying as the BBC said he was unlikely to play.

Both teams had their chances and both keepers made crucial saves and overall Id say the draw was a fair result Notts seemed to be happy with a draw from the off with the keeper lucky to not be booked for time wasting we again were not clinical in front of goal and this is really the story of the season so far.

Karl said after the game much the same thing and that the boys got him out of trouble and reverted to a 4-4-2 with Lowe and MacDonald up front something the fans have been saying we should play for a while and especially on the road,so it was strange to hear Robbo say that for home matches! at home we have more room and if the 4-2-3-1 system was going to work that is where it would be most effective.

Notts star player Jamal Campell-Ryce

The teams lined up MK Dons 4-2-3-1: Martin; Otsemobor, MacKenzie, Kay (O’Shea 54), Lewington (c); Potter, Gleeson; Powell, Williams, Chadwick (Lowe 64); MacDonald (Smith 81).
Subs: McLoughlin, Bowditch, Chicksen, Bullard.
Booked: Lewington, Potter ,Otsemobor and OS only listed two bookings !
Goal: O’Shea scored on 68

Notts County: Bialkowski, Kelly, Bishop (c), Leacock, Liddle, Judge, Zoko (L Hughes 78), Arquin (Showunmi 87), Labadie, Campbell-Ryce (G Hughes 65), former Don Regan.
Subs: Bencherif, Spiess, Wholey, Hollis.
Goal: Bishop 21
The OS didnt list the Notts bookings but BBC listed the appropriatly named LaBadie
I thought there was at least another booking but hey ho.
Referee: Eddie Ilderton who was average and not helped by his linesmen who missed a lot of offsides and saw a few non offsides as off.
Attendance: 7,121 with 650 away which was not too bad considering it was champions league night on the telly.

Next up was an away trip to bottom of the table Bury and we were all hoping for our first away win of the season.

In truth the Dons were never troubled by the Shakers and dominated the game throughout, there was a nervy few minutes after the never knowingly undersold John-Lewis (sorry couldnt resist)got a late consolation goal in the 80th minute
but when Bowditch scored just after we had played half an hour and Bury needed to come forward more the result was not in much doubt.

Bowditch then added two more goals second half to put the game to bed and I was then hoping for the clean sheet which never knowingly put the damper on.
Chadwick our top goal scorer not to be outdone grabbed an injury time goal to make the score 1-4 and take us up to fourth in the League at this early stage of the season.

Bury were managerless and bottom of the table but we beat them comfortably and thats all you can ask for.
But more importantly we have our first win of the season away from home and that is always a nice thing to get before heads go down and it becomes a monkey on the back.
The teams lined up
Bury: Carson who probably saved it from being seven , Skarz, Lockwood who was injured in clash with Charlie Mac(Marshall 39), Sweeney (Worrall 59), Schumacher (c), Carrington former Don was kept quiet, Sodje, Hughes, Jones, Healy, Hopper.

Subs not used: Byrne, according to OS John-Lewis which is strange as he scored, Elford-Alliyu, Cullen, Belford.
Goal was by John-Lewis on 81 even though he was an unused sub lol

MK Dons lined up 4-2-3-1: Martin; Otsemobor who pulled up injured on 45(Kouo-Doumbe , Kay, Williams, Lewington (c); Potter, Gleeson; Bowditch was subbed to take the applause (Powell 71), Chadwick, O’Shea; MacDonald who got a gash that could not be stiched in time(Lowe 41).
Subs not used: McLoughin, Smith, Chicksen.

Chadwick the only booking.

Goal times were Bowditch 33, 55, 67, Chadwick 90

Referee was Mark Haywood who was for a ref pretty decent

The attendance was a lowly 2,321 with 179 Dons fans.
The game itself was Id imagine for the neutral quite good Jamal Campelll -Ryce being the pick of the Notts players for me which was annoying as the BBC said he was unlikely to play .
Both teams had their chances and both keepers made crucial saves.

Martin O'Neill signing Autographs for a couple of lucky fans.

On Tuesday 25th the much anticipated game with Sunderland was upon us and I have to admit that I did not think we would win this one.
Sunderland under Martin O'Neill put out a strong side and I think want to go as far as they can in the Capital One Cup and unlike some Prem teams O'Neill has respect for the League Cup as I still like to call it.

For Cup games I like to go in club red as a little treat to myself and while I was there I ran into Peter Leven who actually remembered me and said hello and he told me he was still living in MK and had been injured recently so had not been playing, he was there as guest of Gary McKenzie I said are you keeping him out of trouble and he laughed and said that's impossible ! before anyone gets the wrong idea it was a joke and Gary is quite the gentleman off the pitch.

Also floating about was Jabo but I never got to speak to him but he was not in Bury as some had suggested.

As for the game I thought we played well first half and did not look like a team two division below in fact I heard some reports from various media sources saying we looked the better team.

When Cattermole was sent off after just half an hour I thought we could win this and knowing that it was likely we would go two up front second half a cup upset was on the cards.

But then just nine minutes into the second half Gardner scored from a free kick that left second choice keeper McLoughlin rooted to the spot this seemed to be the catalyst for the Dons to fade from the game and despite changing the formation to two up front we never looked anywhere near as good as we did first half.

The second goal came and although did flatter the visitors we never looked like we were going to score but a one nil defeat would have reflected the game better I thought, we were not for the first time this season toothless in front goal and we really need to find someone who can take the chances we create personally unless we can get someone in on loan or buy in January Id play Bowditch up front.

So we are now out of the cup both JPT and League and await the FA draw though realistically it is not a competition we are ever likely to win or go past the fourth round in and will probably field a weakened team and concentrate on the League campaign.
The teams lined up
MK Dons 4-2-3-1 McLoughlin, Chicksen, Kay, Williams, Lewington (c); Potter, Gleeson; Powell (O’Shea 78), Chadwick (Lowe 62), Bowditch; Smith (MacDonald 62).
Subs not used: Burns, Kouo-Doumbe, Alli, Spence. Kay was booked.

Sunderland lined up Westwood,Rose, Cattermole (c), Kilgallon, Colback, Vaughan, Meyler, McClean, Saha, Sessegnon (Johnson 85).
Subs not used: Mignolet, Campbell, Wickham, Dong-Won, Fletcher, Egan. The captain Cattermole was sent off on 31 and Colback was booked the goals were scored by Gardner on 54 and McLean on 82 the referee was Stuart Attwell who I thought was pretty good to be fair.

The attendance was 10,489 bolstered by a very good turnout from Sunderland listed as 2,978 but looked and sounded more Sunderland have loads of fans in the South of England and a large supporter club in London but Id imagine a fair few travelled down from Sunderland as well.

Sunderland's Craig Gardner

Sunderland's second goalscorer James McLean.

Adam Chicksen Dons M.O.T.M just after getting the award.

On Thursday we were told that "Jabo Ibehre’s chances have been limited this season and that manager Karl Robinson felt it best to allow the 29-year-old to link up with the U’s on a 93-day loan, which will run until 27th December" we will play Colchester before his loan deal is up but Jabo will not be allowed to play I'll miss seeing Jabo around he was always cheerful and always said hello.

Rochdale trained at Woughton ahead of their game against Gillingham.

On the Friday before the Crewe game I was over at Woughton and managed to speak to Karl before the players trained he was still looking for players and I mentioned Jabo but he did not expand on the loan deal anymore than the OS had told us already.

Friday before a game is usually a light session with some shooting practice at the end, earlier in the week Karl had his windscreen broken by one stray shot and he had moved his car from its usual spot, Paul Heald was even more cautious and left his in the public car park.

Just as I was about to leave the Rochdale team turned up which was not that unusual as they have been here before and were using Woughton to train ahead of their game with Gillingham last time they came it was before their game with Crawley but it still seems weird seeing another team on our hallowed soil !

But as they say onwards and upwards and our next game and last of the month was against Crewe and I think Karl can put it far better than I could when after the game he said to MK News " the first half we were like Brazil, the second more like Bridlington".

It was the strangest game to watch as both halves were so totaly different.

Before the game we learnt we had signed signed West Bromwich Albion and Scotland U-21 midfielder (yes another International player )Scott Allan on a one-month loan deal.
The 20-year-old looked very lively when he came on and had a shot on goal which second half we seemed to be lacking.

Allan has made 10 appearances for Scotland U-21s and will be available for the games with Coventry City, Portsmouth, Preston North End and Stevenage before playing his last game away at Crawley Town on Tuesday 23rd October .
Sadly he could not inspire us to score again but I thought for a debut and considering he had only just met the team let alone train with them he looked pretty good.

To make matters worse after the goal drought against Crewe I heard that Jabo had scored twice at Colchester, I thought why could he not do that here we had again failed to capitalise on the numerous chances we created and were lucky to get all three points with Crewe hitting the post and Martin blocking a certain goal in a one on one situation.
Teams lined up
MK Dons (4-2-3-1) D Martin, Chicksen, Kay, Williams, Lewington (c); Potter got MOM, Gleeson, Bowditch, Chadwick (Allan 71), O’Shea (Powell 61), MacDonald got our first half goal (Lowe 82).
Subs not used: McLoughlin, Otsemobor, Kouo-Doumbe, Smith.

Crewe Alexandra A Martin, Tootle (Turton 79), Davis, Ellis, Clayton (Colclough 68), Murphy (c), Leitch-Smith (Pogba 63), Moore, Mellor, Robertson, Bond.

Subs not used: Garratt, Guthrie, Ray, Daniels.

Attendance: 11,037 with 768 away.

The Referee was James Adcock from Nottinghamshire who was one of the better ref's I have seen and I dont think he booked anyone either.

Anyway overal not a bad month we are up to third with seventeen points one behind Notts and just four away from Tranmere with nine games gone, not in the Auto spots but pretty damn close.
COYD