| 1 | Leicester City | 41 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 38 | 14 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 35 | 22 | 23 | 14 | 4 | 73 | 36 | 83 | +37 | ||||
| 2 | Peterborough United | 41 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 37 | 19 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 36 | 30 | 24 | 9 | 8 | 73 | 49 | 81 | +24 | ||||
| 3 | Millwall | 41 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 26 | 20 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 31 | 24 | 23 | 7 | 11 | 57 | 44 | 76 | +13 | ||||
| 4 | Milton Keynes Dons | 40 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 40 | 23 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 36 | 22 | 21 | 9 | 10 | 76 | 45 | 72 | +31 | ||||
| 5 | Leeds United | 41 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 42 | 19 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 27 | 28 | 22 | 6 | 13 | 69 | 47 | 72 | +22 | ||||
| 6 | Scunthorpe United | 39 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 39 | 20 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 30 | 32 | 20 | 7 | 12 | 69 | 52 | 67 | +17 | ||||
| 7 | Tranmere Rovers | 41 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 38 | 18 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 18 | 25 | 19 | 9 | 13 | 56 | 43 | 66 | +13 | ||||
| 8 | Southend United | 41 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 27 | 16 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 25 | 38 | 19 | 7 | 15 | 52 | 54 | 64 | -2 | ||||
| 9 | Oldham Athletic | 41 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 33 | 22 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 27 | 36 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 60 | 58 | 59 | +2 | ||||
So there you go, win 20-0 and we go sixth. I know that's really stupid, I'll take 10-0 Friday and 10-0 Monday & we'll see where we are after that.
Another weekend, another must win TWO Southend games.
With just five games to go, Blues sit three points outside the top six after a blistering run which has seen them win 11 of their last 14 games, including the last three.
The official site is talking about a 10,000 crowd, not sure about that but remember 13.00 kick-off, so get those pints of Deucher's IPA in early at the Trust bar!
Blues boss Steve Tilson has no new injury and suspension worries for Friday and looks set to name an unchanged side to keep momentum going.
For Tilly's views on both weekend games go here:
www.southendunited.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10444~1622165,00.html
Players have been lining up in the Echo stating how it's a make or break Easter but it's been this way since we started this run with the Dervite signing, if only he had joined a month earlier, after the Leeds defeat. How those home losses to Crewe and Millwall hurt now and I bet we wish that Swindon fixture has been moved a week later in-between two relatively easy home games. However, there was no way we were going to win 19 out of 19 so something had to give and may again soon.
The Blues team and management deserve a huge pat on the back for responding after every defeat to get another run going and they've certainly made the away trips at this stage of the season more interesting, well done lads.
However the season ends let's try and get it right by August this time around, both Clarke and Dervite may be gone at the back, Robertson up front, so we don't have to go through this again, but somehow you know we will!
Anyway back to the Franchise. Not a bad team, but in a spell of mixed form, maybe a few nerves, that we can take advantage of, 2-1 win.
Don't like talk of hoodoos, so I'll leave it to Captain Adam, who has played in all our dire fixtures against the team now based in Milton Keynes, to sum it all up.
"We haven't done too well against MK Dons over the last few years but hopefully that can now change. Even when we were top of League One and they were struggling towards the bottom they got the better of us. That's in the past now though and we're in great form so we want to keep that going and finally get a win against them."
Go Adam, Go Blues!
Last Six Games
Southend Utd. | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 15 |
OPPOSITION
Last Six Games
MK Dons | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 8 |
The Dons may well be disappointed with their place in the table.
After looking good for automatic promotion, a run of just two wins in 10 games has left them fourth, nine points off second place. The fact that only two of those games were defeats proves that Roberto Di Matteo's side are hard to beat.
The Dons have also one of the best away records in the division, having won 10 games on the road and lost just four.
Boss Di Matteo is set for a boost on the injury front with Luke Chadwick and Shaun Cummings set to return to the side. Chadwick has missed the last two matches with a hamstring strain whilst Cummings sat out last weekends 2-0 win over Brighton through illness.
Match report available here: www.clubfanzine.com/MK_dons/v2.showNews.php?id=19009 & we'll look forward to seeing some of those Easter bunnies as well!
The Dons are missing striker Aaron Wilbraham as the club's top scorer back injury is still troubling him, whilst Alan Navarro is also serving the second game of a two match suspension.
However, the Italian doesn't want to make wholesale changes at this stage of the season. He told his official site: "You think about many things, you try in your mind to play with what you can do. But, at the end of the day, we're getting to the end of the season and you don't want to change too much because the team is settled now. You have to balance it well."
For more on what Di Matteo says about the game and the Blues go here: www.thelittlegazette.com/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=441913
Dons skipper Dean Lewington has admitted that defensive lapses have cost his side - but vowed they will improve. They secured only their second clean sheet in 10 games at home to Brighton on Saturday and leaking sloppy goals was one of the main reasons behind the promotion chasers' severe dip in form during March.
But the captain says his side are working hard to cut mistakes out in the final stages of the season.
Talking to the MK Citizen Lewington said: "With every goal you concede there is usually something or someone to blame. It is not as if people have been scoring perfect goals against us, there is always a mistake and we are always looking to see where the weakness is, but it isn't always just the back four. We defended a little bit better against Brighton and maybe got lucky with a few of their chances but sometimes defending is like that - getting a bit of luck."
And Lewington, the only player left in the Franchise squad that played in Wimledon colours, has admitted that every game is now a must win fixture if Dons are to have any hope of catching Peterborough or Leicester City in the automatic promotion positions.
"I think the Brighton game was massive, we needed it to pick us up as it was a long time since we had a win. But we need to get that confidence back for the last few games. We felt that we really needed to win the three or four games before that and didn't get the results that we wanted, but now every game is a must win."
Now the 24-year-old has set his mind of winning three points against the Blues on Good Friday where an away win will all but end our late play-off charge.
"We can put a big dent in their challenge for the play-offs, but we are not really focussed on them. We know that we have to go there and do a job for ourselves. It might be good for us that they need to win and that might play into our hands a little bit. I think it definitely helps us when we get an open game rather than the 4-5-1 we usually have to put up with at home where teams come to frustrate us. That's the challenge and they are a very good side, but it's one we're all looking forward to."
PREVIOUSLY
Dons certainly have the upper hand in meetings with the Blues and are unbeaten in their last eight meetings, both as MK Dons and Wimbledon. We've done better against them before the move, where we have one Boxing Day goaless draw to look back on. Nice cup win away in 1934 though.
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REF
The man in the middle is Paul Taylor from Enfield, Middlesex.
Taylor was involved in two unusual controversial incidents during the 2000-01 season.
On August 19 2000 he was the fourth official for the Sunderland v Arsenal game. He alleged that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had pushed him in the tunnel after the match. Wenger was found guilty and initially given a 12 match touchline ban.
On October 14 2000 it was alleged that he made insulting and personal remarks to Notts County player Sean Farrell during the game against Wigan Athletic. The case against Taylor was dismissed at a disciplinary hearing in February 2001.
FIXTURES
Saturday, 11 April 2009; (all 15.00): Brighton v Swindon, Crewe v Hartlepool, Hereford v Leicester, Leeds v Stockport, Leyton Orient v Colchester, Walsall v Tranmere.
Monday, 13 April 2009; (all 15.00 unless stated): Cheltenham v Yeovil, Colchester v Brighton, Hartlepool v Scunthorpe, Huddersfield v Carlisle, Leicester v Leeds, (12.15), Millwall v Peterborough, (19.45), MK Dons v Bristol Rovers, Northampton v Southend, Oldham v Crewe, Stockport v Walsall, Swindon v Leyton Orient.
Southend (8/5) Draw (9/4) MK Dons (2)
HISTORY
The history of Milton Keynes Dons begins in the late 1990s with Pete Winkelman, a music promoter and resident of Milton Keynes. Winkelman had a vision to build a FIFA-compliant new stadium complex in the town, providing a sporting & events centre. The core to this project was to base a professional football club at the stadium. As such Winkelman began approaching football clubs within a reasonable radius of the town who were struggling to gain consent to redevelop their stadia. These included Barnet, Luton Town and Queens Park Rangers. These initial approaches were unsuccessful, however, in Wimbledon F.C., he found a club with owners who were already looking for a new base. He persuaded the directors that a move 56 miles (90 km) north to Milton Keynes might give them the financial boost they wanted. Most of Wimbledon's fans as well as the Football League were against such a move.
On 28 May 2002, despite over a year of fan protests against the idea, the Football Association authorised the move to Milton Keynes. Although there have been club relocations in the UK, there had never been such a relocation of a professional club within the English pyramid system, and this move attracted widespread criticism. Those who interpreted the League decision as American-style sports "franchises" gave Wimbledon the disparaging title "Franchise F.C.". At the behest of the Football Supporters Federation, the fans of other teams boycotted games against the club and crowds dwindled to non-league levels. On 5 June 2003, Wimbledon went into financial administration with debts of more than £20 million.
During the 2003-04 season, Wimbledon F.C. was run by the administrators and many of the team's players were sold. At the end of a dismal season, the club was relegated to League One (the new name for the Second Division). During the summer of 2003, the National Hockey Stadium was converted for use as a football stadium, and in September 2003, Wimbledon F.C. moved into the National Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes. In spring 2004, to ensure that the idea of permanently basing a football team at the proposed stadium complex became a reality, Winkelman bought the near-bankrupt club from the administrators, although the owning of the club was never the original intention.
In 2008, the club claimed their first items of silverware, winning the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final 2-0 against Grimsby Town in front of over 55,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. In May 2008, the club lifted the League Two championship trophy after winning League Two and gaining promotion to League One for the 2008-09 season.
After bringing two trophies to stadium:mk at the end of the 2007-08 season, Paul Ince terminated his contract with the Dons to take over Premiership club Blackburn Rovers, (where he himself has been sacked to be replaced by Sam Allardyce), whose manager, Mark Hughes, had recently departed to Manchester City. Ince's place was taken by former Italian international midfielder, Roberto di Matteo, in his first managerial position. He was unveiled as the new Dons boss on July 3, 2008.
Dons captain Keith Andrews left the club to join former manager and Wolverhampton Wanderers team-mate Ince at Blackburn on August 28th 2008. Left-back Dean Lewington was named his successor. It is notable that Lewington is the only squad member remaining of the original Wimbledon team who came to MK in 2003.
(Thanks to all the usual suspects for their help with this article)