Town Travel to MK Looking to Continue Impressive Away Form Friday, 11th Dec 2015 11:47 Town visit the MK Dons for the first time in the league on Saturday looking for a third successive win on the road and aiming to add to the eight goals they have scored in their last two away games (Sky Sports One, from noon, kick-off 12.30pm). The ninth-placed Blues, who have picked up precisely half their 28 points on their travels this season, having won four and drawn two of their nine away games, comfortably beat Charlton 3-0 at the Valley a fortnight ago having thrashed Rotherham 5-2 at the New York Stadium prior to the international break. “The bizarre nature of the game is that we’ve scored more goals than almost anybody, but we’ve conceded more than most, which has been unlike my teams,” manager Mick McCarthy said of his side's overall totals of 28 goals scored and 27 conceded. “I’ve tried to get us more positive, to have more goals in us, and I’ve managed that. I’m not convinced that that’s been the contributory factor in us conceding them, though. “I look at the goals against Middlesbrough, the first was just from the goalkeeper’s kick and we made two or three little errors and it went in the net. We’ll continue to attack and will go to the MK Dons and be positive.” McCarthy will be involved in his first competitive game at Stadium MK, although Wolves played a pre-season friendly there during his time as their manager and his Sunderland side faced what was still nominally a Wimbledon team in a league at the National Hockey Stadium in the Buckinghamshire town. The Blues boss says it shouldn’t be a surprise that Saturday’s opponents - who are fifth from bottom on 16 points - are finding life tough following their promotion from League One last season. "After making a positive start to their first Championship campaign - they won two of their first three games - MK have recorded only two victories in their last 16 league matches while losing 10. Their home record is won three, drew one and lost five. “It was a really good achievement getting them up,” McCarthy said. “But as with everybody else, Bristol City and Preston as well, they find that jump is tough. “Bournemouth and Norwich are finding it tough in the Premier League. Watford are ripping it up, they’re doing well, but I just think anybody who gets promoted, it’s tough for them. “People may say about us that December is a watershed month, and it probably is. And it probably is for the teams which have got promoted in terms of where they are and where they’re going to be. “We’re on the other side of it after Boxing Day, we’re counting down the games, and you want to be in a good position, whether it’s us looking for the top six or somebody looking to stay in the league.” The Blues boss says he saw the Dons in action last week as they were beaten 2-0 at Griffin Park. “I went to watch them at Brentford last week and Brentford were excellent,” he added. “They dominated the game, they hit the woodwork three times, had a one-on-one and missed chances. “Dean Smith had just walked in the door, it was the new manager’s first game and how many times have we had that when we’ve faced a new manager? It does seem to give the opposition a bit of a lift. “Whether that had a bit to do with it and also the lousy, windy conditions, I’ve no idea. But I’ve seen two other games on our analysis [software] and they’re a capable football team and if they’re allowed to play, they can play.” McCarthy says that despite their current lowly position manager Karl Robinson has some good players at his disposal. “They have Josh Murphy, who is on loan from Norwich, who is a flyer,” he said. “Nicky Maynard, who we all know can play and score goals. “Dean Bowditch, who I believe you all know better than I do, he plays in there [behind the striker]. Darren Potter and Diego Poyet are a midfield pairing who can pick a pass and have both got a shot on them. “Like all of them, they have a way of playing. They’re settled, they have a settled team. Whether they’ll do anything different playing against us we’ll wait and see, but I doubt it.” McCarthy himself is unlikely to do too much different with his team, despite last Friday's2-0 defeat to Middlesbrough. Dean Gerken will continue in goal with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back, despite having suffered with a back problem which has seen him miss training. Jonas Knudsen will be at left-back with Tommy Smith and Christophe Berra at the centre of the defence. Cole Skuse and Jonathan Douglas are set to continue in the centre of midfield with Ainsley Maitland-Niles likely to keep his place on the right with Kevin Bru still out with his hamstring problem. Freddie Sears again seems set to operate on the left if McCarthy goes with a midfield four but will join up with Daryl Murphy and Brett Pitman up front if the Blues switch to 4-3-3. David McGoldrick will be fitter having trained for a further week after returning to action as a late sub against Boro and may well play a greater part from the bench this weekend. Ryan Fraser, out since early October with a knee injury, is back at Playford Road today having undergone his rehab back with his parent club Bournemouth and is in the squad. The Scotland U21 international seems set to be amongst the subs. For the home side, defender Matthew Upson (calf) and winger Dale Jennings (knee) remain sidelined but striker Simon Church is over a knee injury and defender Joe Walsh has recovered from a knee problem. Having slammed his team’s performance at Brentford last week, Dons manager Robinson is promising to make switches of personnel. “We can talk all we want about bouncing back, but sometimes it doesn’t happen,” he told the Milton Keynes Citizen. “So I’ve told my players don’t tell me, show me. When you show someone, you’re doing it. “They want to change their mentality, but ultimately we’re defined on the first whistle and final whistle. I will make changes, 100 per cent.” Robinson says he’s an admirer of McCarthy: “I remember when I first went to a League Managers’ [Association] meeting, I tended to agree with everything he said because I was scared of him! I’d heard a lot of stories about him! “I’ve never managed against him. But he’s someone I hold in high regard. He’s a strong character. “I know people who have played for him, and everyone seems to love playing for Mick. His sides always give their all with strength and desire. They’ll be well drilled. We have to be savvy enough to deal with that.” No current Town player has been with Saturday’s opposition but the Dons’ squad includes Dean Bowditch, Cody Cropper and Matthew Upson, who all have connections to the Blues. Town academy product Bowditch, now 29, made 35 starts and 47 sub appearances for Town having joined the club at 10, scoring nine goals before moving on to Yeovil following his release in the summer of 2009. After two years with the Glovers, he joined MK. US U20 and U23 international keeper Cropper, 22, was with the Town academy and was on the first-team bench on a number of occasions without making his senior debut. He moved on to Southampton in August 2012 having been released by the Blues and then joined the Dons this summer. He made his first two senior appearances in August, both in the Capital One Cup. Veteran former England central defender Matthew Upson, 36, was born in Hartismere near Eye and was with Town’s Centre of Excellence as a schoolboy. He joined the Dons in the summer after leaving Leicester. The only previous game between the teams came in the first round of the Carling Cup at Stadium MK back in August 2007 when the Blues were beaten 5-3 in a penalty shoot-out following a 3-3 draw after extra-time. Leon Knight put the home side ahead on 16 then four minutes later Alex Bruce netted an own goal to make it 2-0. Alan Lee pulled one back from the penalty spot just prior to half-time before a Kieron Murphy own goal levelled the scores seven minutes after the restart. Owen Garvan gave the Blues the lead eight minutes into extra-time, but Kevin Gallen netted from the spot after the Dons were controversially awarded a penalty in the final minute. In the shoot-out Lloyd Dyer, Mark Wright, Gallen, Jude Sterling and Sean O'Hanlon all scored for the home side, while Billy Clarke, Jon Walters and Jason De Vos were successful for the Blues. However, Dan Harding’s fourth for Town was stopped by one-time Blues reserves keeper Nathan Abbey. Town’s only other game in Milton Keynes was in March 2004 at the point when Wimbledon had been relocated but not yet had their name changed. Town won the game 2-1 at the National Hockey Stadium via two goals within a minute of one another 20 minutes from the end scored by Darren Bent and Shefki Kuqi. Gary Smith notched the Dons' goal four minutes later. While Saturday has been declared Blues supporters' annual Inflatables Day, home fans will be staging their Christmas Jumper Day. Saturday’s referee is Andrew Madley from West Yorkshire, who has shown 72 yellow cards and three red in 22 games so far this season. Madley’s last Town game was the 2-1 home victory over Wolves in November last year in which he booked three Blues and two visiting players. Prior to that, he was in charge of the 1-1 home draw with Nottingham Forest in March 2014 - in which he again yellow-carded five players, four Tricky Trees and one Town player - and the 2-0 victory over Reading at Portman Road two months earlier when he cautioned only three players, including two Blues. Squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Knudsen, Parr, Kenlock, Berra, Smith, Malarczyk, Robinson, Skuse, Douglas, Coke, Tabb, McDonnell, Maitland-Niles, Fraser, Sears, Pitman, Murphy, McGoldrick.
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