By Nathan Jackson
November 4 2005

City start their FA Cup campaign tomorrow against one of League 1's former Premiership sides, MK Dons, a/k/a Wimbledon. The Imps will be hoping to progress and make it to the second round for the 4th time this century, however, it will be far from easy against a side looking for their first away win

Well it’s back for another season, the world’s most famous club cup competition starts this weekend and the Imps have been given a home drawn to the MK Dons. City secured a much-needed win last Saturday against a very violent Rochdale side and although it hasn’t got us anywhere near challenging for promotion, we now have something to build on in order to possible push for promotion, however, this weekend isn’t about the league.

The MK Dons came about at the beginning of the 2003/4 season when Wimbledon moved from London to one of the few towns without a football team. It’s safe to say that in those few years, they haven’t made a success of themselves and are in danger of being becoming the first ex-Premiership team to be relegated to the 4^th tier of English football and much like City up until last Saturday, they haven’t won away.

Leading goalscorer, Gary Birch is apparently back from injury and will more than likely replace Richard Butcher, who returned to Oldham in midweek. McCombe has restarted training but is a long way from match fitness, whereas Steve Robinson and Ollie Ryan will defiantly not feature after being loaned to Worksop and Ilkeston respectively. In form strikers Marvin Robinson and Defri Asamoah will more than likely start up front with Birch sitting between them.

Who I think will start (Right to left)

Marriott

Beevers   Cryan  Morgan  McAuley

Kerr    Brown  Keates

M/Robinson  Birch    Asamoah

 

Many will argue that the MK Dons were never a Premiership club and have no connections with the club formally known as Wimbledon. After controversially moving from their home in the Sw19 area of London, they have failed to prosper in League 1 and just managed to avoid relegation on the final day of last season but have started this season in similar fashion, winning just 2 of their league games so far.

Their season started with 2 difficult matches. They achieved a very respectable 2-2 draw with a strong Bournemouth side before taking a point off of Doncaster with a 1-1 draw at Belle Vue. However, a second trip to Yorkshire in the space of 4 days, proved less fruitful for the Dons as Bradford beat them 2-0. A 3^rd point of the season was earned with a 1-1 draw in a home game with Colchester before eventually exiting the Carling Cup against Norwich.

Their next two games were against 2 of the title favourites, Brentford and Swansea and on both occasions, MK Dons lost. A 1-0 defeat at Brentford’s Griffin Park was followed by a 3-1 defeat at home to Swansea. They steadied the boat a bit with a goalless draw against Barnsley but the losing feeling soon returned with a 3-2 defeat at Blackpool.

However, they did get a win in their next outing, a 1-0 victory at home to Scunthorpe United and they made it 6 points in four days with a 3-1 win over League 1 table-proppers, Swindon Town. Two more draws followed, this time in the form of a 1-1 draw at Walsall and then another goalless draw, this time against Chesterfield. An impressive 3-2 win of conference promotion chasers, Exeter City in the LDV Vans signaled the final game in the 6 game unbeaten run.

They were beaten 2-1 by improving Hartlepool before last Saturday’s 1-1 at Rotherham.

If Milton Keynes do get relegated, they will become the first side to have played in the Premiership, to be relegated down to the 4^th tier of English football, something that also looks set to happen to Swindon.