..

..

..

There was never much anticipation surrounding games with MK Dons. The disgraceful creation of the club, effectively dumping Wimbledon, and moving 80 miles up the M1, had engendered a real feeling of antipathy amongst some of the more vociferous County fans. The initial away games were at the National Hockey Stadium, a truly god forsaken entity of a football ground, until the move to Stadium MK. The former did at least have the advantage of being near the town centre, but sat-nav was required to find the new construction, which seemed to be miles from anywhere and reached by a multitude of roundabouts. I had the opportunity of seeing the opening event there courtesy of a business contact. I liked the stadium but as is always the case football matches involving a series of celebrities and former stars hardly capture the imagination. But enough of that.

The heady days of the previous May, when promotion was achieved in the play-off final at Wembley had dissipated by late October 2008. By that time 11 league games had produced but 3 wins, (leaving us in mid table), and had also seen exits from the League Cup and Johnstone’s Paints Trophy. The team had changed, not out of all recognition, but quite significantly. From the Wembley team only McNulty, Pilkington and Gleeson made the starting line up. Three days previously a single goal home defeat at the hands of Colchester made it just seven points from 6 games. The trip down the M6 and M1 was undertaken more in hope than expectation.

County were given a scare early on as Luke Chadwick hit the bar before Anthony Pilkington shot straight at Willy Gueret when clean through on goal. There wasn’t a great deal of hope turning to expectation as the first half concluded with Ali Gerba putting the Dons ahead in first half stoppage time. Jason Taylor equalised midway through the second half. As the game ebbed away, and with injury time looming the 262 travelling supporters were sent into ecstasy as Turnbull tapped home Tommy Rowe’s inviting cross. There was more than a suggestion that Lewington should get the ‘credit’ for an own goal but official records show it to be one of the 14 strikes that ‘Bully’ totalled in his long career at EP.

The win saw an improvement in fortunes. The following six games saw a further 13 points and saw County enter the Christmas period handily placed in 8th spot. Was a second successive promotion on the cards? However, little was suspected as Jeff and I made our way back north that night that a financial cataclysm was unfolding … an event which would define the future of the Club for 12 years.

Memories of trips to the National Hockey Stadium

..

Memories of trips to Stadium MK

..

THE GAMES

..

Where the date is in bold click for highlights of the game

..

	Date	Venue	Ground	Competition		F	A	Att:
Sat	05/03/05	a	National Hockey Stadium	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	1	2	4,146
Tues	05/12/06	a	National Hockey Stadium	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2 (Tier 4)	L	0	2	4,564
Sat	21/04/07	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2 (Tier 4)	L	1	2	5,681
Sat	27/10/07	a	Stadium mk	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2 (Tier 4)	W	2	0	8,290
Sat	19/04/08	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2 (Tier 4)	L	2	3	8,838
Tues	21/10/08	a	Stadium mk	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	W	2	1	6,931
Tue	03/02/09	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	0	1	4,891
Sat	26/12/09	a	Stadium mk	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	1	4	9,661
Sat	06/02/10	h	Edgeley Park	Coca-Cola Football League – League 1 (Tier 3)	L	1	3	3,720

..

Back to Opposition Team Index