"Is there poetry in the parking lot?
In the grid like lines of Milton Keynes?"
Mina Harker
We welcome Franchise FC as we return to our quest to escape from the clutches of League 2 - strangely enough the Dons are in the unusual position of having a game in hand over us, but as we have a 21 point advantage over them it’s nothing to fret over. They currently occupy a mid-table position (11th), with this appropriate up-and-down form …
December 14th Gillingham (H) Lost 0-1
December 21st Newport County (A) Lost 6-3
December 26th Notts County (H) Lost 0-2
December 29th Crewe Alexandra (H) Drew 1-1
January 1st Chesterfield (A) Won 1-2
January 4th Salford City (H) Lost 0-1
The Dons’ squad is strong in numbers, and it’s probable that we will see an ex-Saddler in the form of Craig MacGillivray on their bench. Others who qualify in the “played for both” category include Matt Carbon, Jabo Ibehre, Paul Downing, Zeli Ismail, Zak Jules, Will Grigg, Russell Martin, Andrew Surman, Cameron Norman and Craig Westcarr.
Mat Sadler has probably been far too busy this week to concentrate on tactics for this game - he has a squad to maintain (and improve?), recently weakened by the Nathan Lowe recall and a mounting injury list, Donervon Daniels being the latest addition. He does have breathing space thanks to our 12 point lead over 2nd place Crewe Alexandra, and we are currently 14 points ahead of the play-off zone - with a massively superior goal difference.
No news as yet of any signings, but no doubt the phones are buzzing and we must wait and see what transpires. However, as we showed in the 2nd half at Peterborough, even a bunch of our 2nd-choice players do have the ability and attitude to worry the opposition.
Prediction? Well, we’re back on our own turf, and if Newport County can put 6 goals past the Dons I see no reason why we can’t attain a respectable 2-1 win and another 3 points en route to the League 2 title.
UTS