Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
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Location: In the Armchair.
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THE CAZBAR BIG GAME PREVIEW – FOREST GREEN ROVERSMe smug…. never…. well ok a little bit as I did say in my preview that the Mansfield game stood a chance of being called off…they have form when it gets damp you know.
So, continuing my smugness that’s two weeks on the trot, the week before warning of traffic wardens at Salford, and now this with the weather report, proving that the “CazBar Big Game Preview” is essential reading before the game, but I am a bit miffed I wrote my usual 1,500 literary masterpiece last week and it’s all gone to waste, guess I will have to see what I can salvage from it once the game is rearranged.
So with nothing much to review I have to tell you that in way I’m fairly happy the game was called off because it means that Lewie can now break the record held by former Swindon Town player John Trollope for the number of appearances for one club at our match on Boxing Day against Colchester Utd at Stadium MK, that is of course if the Morecambe game doesn’t get called off on Dec 23rd, but even if it is he can still break the record on Dec 29th at home to Crawley Town.
So as Pop legend David Essex once sung…..” Every cloud’s got a silver lining”, and by the way John Trollope received an MBE for this achievement……New Years Honours anyone, couldn’t have happened at a better time.
Moving on then taking a look at Forest Green Rovers who also had their game called off on Saturday, and somewhat ironically had their game called off at Mansfield in October for the same reason, below is their record in the league plus their away record, and as usual the same details about us.
Dons (13th) – P 19, W 7, D 6, L 6, GF 31, GA 27, Pts 27.
Rovers (23rd) – P 19, W 4, D 3, L 12, GF 20, GA 35, Pts 15.
Dons (H) (17th) – P 9, W 4, D 3, L 2, GF 15, GA 11, Pts 15.
Rovers (A) (20th) – P 8, W 2, D 2, L 4, GF 7, GA 12, Pts 8.
Below is the record of Forest Green Rovers when playing away from home in the league this season with the most recent game shown first.
Walsall 0 Forest Green 0
Tranmere 3 Forest Green 0
Accrington 2 Forest Green 1
Stockport 2 Forest Green 0
Notts County 4 Forest Green 3
Sutton Utd 0 Forest Green 1
AFC 1 Forest Green 1
Harrogate Town 0 Forest Green 1
So that’s just 1 point from the last 15 available, and it’s hard to find anything much in the way of optimism ahead of this fixture for Rovers fans, but as usual I will give it a go. They drew at Walsall 0-0 as did we back in October. A commendable 1-1 draw against AFC at the Meccano Stadium, with the possible foot note that AFC have hit a bit of a purple patch since then. Their two away wins have come against Harrogate who have the second worst home record in EFL 2, and Sutton Utd who are bottom of the league, but saying that we only just escaped Sutton with a point. And lastly they drew 0-0 with Brighton kids in the BSM Trophy…. I wonder how we got on, oh and they slaughtered Colchester 5-0 at home back in October, but the U’s were reduced to 10 men and it was only 1-0 when Mingi got his marching orders shortly after half time.
I’ve noticed this week that FGR owner Dale Vince has vowed to plunder his bank account and buy more players to keep Rovers in the EFL not wanting consecutive relegations on his CV, so that is probably bad news for “Just Stop Oil” as he’s alleged to be a major contributor to their funding…. oh well, never mind. I will add a little footnote or a reminder that last season FGR signed 11 players in the January Transfer Window, and they still sunk quicker than the Titanic.
Top scorer for FGR is Matt Stevens with 5 goals but he’s been in and out with injuries lately, so the danger is likely to come from former Premiership striker Troy Deeney who has 4 goals and 1 assist in his 16 games this season and is still proving to be a bit of a handful. His main supplier look likely to be Tyrese Omotoye who has 3 assists and 3 goals to his name so far. Another danger is right wing back Kyle McAllister, he has 4 goals and 3 assists on his CV this season and is bound to be a thorn in the side of Skip.
Whilst talking about FGR players I cannot move on without mentioning Jordan Moore-Taylor who came to us from Exeter City alongside the then new gaffer Paul Tisdale. JMT played for us for two seasons notching up just 41 games and the one goal and IMHO a very decent player at this level, but his career has been blighted by injuries, something we know only too well. He left us at the end of the 2019/20 season as part of the 9 player summer clear out.
He joined FGR a few weeks later and has been there ever since although has managed only 70 games scoring 5 goals, if he is fit, he will start at centre half in what will probably be a 4-3-2-1 formation.
Someone else we should perhaps mention is former Don Nathan Holland who moved to FGR in August of this season. He’s had a few injuries and is currently again sidelined and has only managed 207 minutes over 6 games this season and is a big doubt for this game. In total he played 37 times for the Dons scoring 2 goals, one against Walsall in the EFL Trophy, the other versus Plymouth.
The man in charge on the touchline is someone I am fairly sure has never crossed our paths before, 39 year old David Horseman.
As far as I can tell he has no recorded player experience and seems to mainly have been part of coaching teams at the likes of Bristol City and Watford. He got his first taste of being in charge at Southampton overseeing the Academy graduates and then as part of the backroom staff for the 1st X1.
He stepped into the gaffer’s role at FGR in July of this season taking over from Caretaker boss Hannah Dingley. Unfortunately, his record is not that great with a record of P 26, W 6, L 14, with a lowly Win Ratio of just 23%.
On Tuesday night FGR were forced to replay their FA Cup tie versus Scarborough Athletic who are the phoenix club of Scarborough FC at the wonderfully named Flamingo Land Stadium.
Following the 5-2 win for FGR in a replay from the original 1-1 draw an administrative error came to light whereby FGR had been given permission to field a loan player by the parent club, but they had forgotten to tell the FA, hence the replay. You may be thinking how Barnsley got thrown out of the FA Cup then, well they played a totally ineligible player, hence the different punishment. Another part of the punishment is FGR have to forfeit all the gate receipts etc.
For the record Rovers won 4-2 with a heavily changed side, with Athletic keeping them honest for the full 90 minutes.
Historically we have an excellent record against Rovers, and the detail of that plus Dons scorers is shown below.
2017/18 – Forest Green 0 Dons 1 (LC) (Ariyibi)
2018/19 – Dons 1 Forest Green 1 (Aneke)
2018/19 – Forest Green 1 Dons 2 (Agard, Martin)
2022/23 – Dons 1 Forest Green 0 (Harvie)
2022/23 – Forest Green 1 Dons 2 (Eisa 2)
That’s a record of P 5, W 4, D 1, L 0, GF 7, GA 3.
Looking at the betting it comes as no great shock that we are the firm favourites but still an enticing price.
MK Dons 3/4, Draw 31/10, Forest Green 4/1.
If you fancy the Dons to dominate the game and be leading at half time and of course at the business end you can stretch those odds to around 2/1.
I suppose you want a prediction now, well I can only go for a Dons win, anything less will be bloody disappointing, and if we are to drag ourselves up the table, these are games we should be winning and dare I say comfortably.
I’ve rambled on a bit this week, so I’ll just say, enjoy the game and I’ll see You Saturday.  WD
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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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29 games ago in fact.
