Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
Posts: 5097
Location: In the Armchair.
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THE CAZBAR BIG GAME PREVIEW – BARROW AFCIf you had been standing next to me the night we took on our County rivals in the playoffs, and I turned to you prior to kick off and said, “In a couple of years’ time we will be playing the likes of Sutton Utd, Harrogate Town, and Barrow AFC, and worse still we will be losing or struggling to even draw”, you would have thought I was “coked up” or off my face on Moroccan Woodbines, but that is the reality of where we are.
Worse still the attendances are teetering just above the 5K mark, and that could sink below that line on Saturday when football giants Barrow come to SMK, with their usual huge following of around 200 fans, but even worse than that, as we left Gillingham on Saturday we learnt we had created a little bit of history by sinking to 16th place in the table, our worst ever placing …..but I’m sure we are all very proud at what we have achieved in such a short space of time, it’s been hard work, but it’s paid off.
On Saturday at the Priestfield Stadium we looked ok for around 20 minutes until early sub Macauley Bonne outmuscled unflappable until then Anthony Stewart which was funny…. well sort of…..as I only said moments earlier to my mate, the first time Stewart gets done they will score, you could see it happening. After that the Gills were well on top searching for another and it was only really Mac that kept them at bay.
At half time we rolled the dice bringing on Leko for Payne, and Harrison for Tomlinson….it didn’t work…. and 10 minutes later the Gills went 2-0 ahead as Leko committed football suicide and Scott Malone tapped home.
I’m not really that sure if we raised our game that much following that as I was deep in conversation with Thames Valley’s finest trying to find out what the skirmish was about at the bottom of the open stand. Anyway, I sort of regained my interest in the game when the effervescent Max Dean came on for Matt Dennis with all his youthful energy buzzing around the Gills defence like a bee high on sugar.
Around 10 minutes from time with our players finally finding some urgency, Harrison headed home a Leko cross…he didn’t mean it I’m sure, but it sort of gave us some minor hope which in truth we didn’t deserve, and Dean nearly snatched the equaliser if not for a superb save from Jake Turner.
In truth the Gills were just as likely to stretch the lead further and it wouldn’t have been unjust, and when Harvie was given his marching orders in injury time that was about it. He deserved it though it must be said, his first yellow was for a foul enhanced with a bit of dissent and pointing at the ref…..needless…his second for tugging a player back on the edge of the box.
I didn’t hang around at the end but I’m told Alexander didn’t hang around either so why should I bother and he scurried off down the tunnel as did some of the players, others were met with mixed reactions from the faithful, but again Max Dean received generous applause for his efforts, the fans saw he gave it his all and acknowledged it even though we lost, so this isn’t just about booing the result, if the effort is there, fans will applaud it no matter what the result is.
OK then, moving forward, lets take a squint at Barrow and see what we can expect in our first ever meeting. Below is the current league placings of both teams plus the home record of the Dons and the away record of Barrow.
Dons (16th) – P 12, W 4, D 3, L 5, GF 17, GA 18, Pts 15.
Barrow (12th) – P 11, W 4, D 4, L 3, GF 13, GA 12, Pts 16.
Dons (H) (19th) – P 5, W 2, D 1, L 2, GF 5, GA 5, Pts 7.
Barrow (A) (10th) – P 7, W 2, D 2, L 3, GF 6, GA 7, Pts 8.
Below are the away results in the league for Barrow with the most recent game shown first.
Grimsby 2 Barrow 1
Mansfield 1 Barrow 0
Newport Co 1 Barrow 1
Harrogate 0 Barrow 1
Stockport 1 Barrow 0
Accrington 1 Barrow 1
Tranmere 1 Barrow 2
Those results suggest to me that Barrow are going to be a team more than capable of holding their own this season and a decent foe when away from home, and probably not the sort of team we want to be facing when we are desperately searching for a positive result.
Their last league game on Saturday also raises concerns as they drew 1-1 at home to league leaders Notts County despite having just 33% possession, but its the stat that they had 14 shots with 6 on target that is concerning despite seeing very little of the ball, and they also restricted County to just 5 shots with 1 on target.
Barrow did play on Tuesday night in the EFL Trophy going down 3-1 away from home to Morecambe but I’m not really sure what we can learn by that as both teams made several changes, and the Trophy is hardly a form guide to rely on.
In charge at Barrow is 39 year old Pete Wild and my usual checks have proved fruitless as I cannot find any record of him playing at a professional level. He first came on the radar aged 18 as he sought a career in coaching which he supplemented by working in his parent’s pub, a part time car mechanic and a tree surgeon. He also had roles in the Sports Dept for Oldham Council before landing a job as a Development Officer for Manchester FA.
His first managerial job was as the England Amputees Team Manager. Two caretaker spells followed at Oldham Athletic before landing the job as of right in 2019, but he resigned after just 9 games for personal reasons despite a good record.
Whatever it was that made Wild resign we will never know but he signed up less than a month later to be the Halifax Town Manager where he stayed for 3 seasons with a Win Ratio of nearly 47% until Barrow seduced him into being their manager, a position he has held since May 2022.
Wild has a fairly decent record as the Gaffer with career stats of P 223, W 96, D 46, L 81, giving him a very tidy 43% Win Ratio, something not to be sniffed at for this level.
Top scorer with 4 goals for Barrow is striker Emile Acquah in his first season for the club following a move from Maidenhead Utd in the summer, and the top assists coming from midfielder Sam Foley with 3 so far this season.
With no history to look back on we will move swiftly on to the betting which shows the Dons as weak favourites.
MK Dons 21/20, Draw 13/5, Barrow 14/5.
Making a prediction is the difficult thing, we haven’t won in 7 games and the fans are on the back of Pete, the players and manager. We have a similar record to Barrow, but they have a game in hand, and have proved hard to beat, and the Barrow gaffer will be impressing on his team that an early goal will heap pressure on Alexander and create a toxic atmosphere for our players.
I don’t think I’m overstating this, but Alexander could well be 90 minutes plus a bit of injury time away from the sack and whilst I am no fan of his style, I will still prefer it if the team win and go on a run of games and the majority of us have to eat a big helping of humble pie. But let me stress winning this is just buying him a bit of time, it’s going to take at least an impressive couple of months to turn the ship around and get the fans back onside.
Lose this and I cannot see any way back, and even a reluctant Pete will have to admit that time is up. If that happens a simple change of manager will IMHO not help us, in reality the problems of this club are not just on the pitch, a whole mentality change is needed and that will take some unravelling and a totally different approach taken, the problem is that what we are experiencing is woven deep into the fabric of the club, and that will not be an easy fix, and that is if they even want to fix it.
So, my prediction is going to be for a nervy win for the Dons, and that based more on hope than expectation.
I’ll leave you with this, don’t forget we are all MK Dons fans, the guy in front or behind you may have different opinions and see things a bit differently to you, but that doesn’t make them or you a better fan, and it doesn’t mean either of you are right.
In any situation some of us deal with things differently, some shout, scream and cry, others keep the good old British stiff upper lip, there is no wrong way, no right way, so just try and remember that on Saturday when someone boos or just sits there offering no support when you think they should but happily criticises those showing emotion, or the lack of it.
Take Care & Fingers Crossed it could be a messy ride.  WD
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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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