The Dons travel to Carlisle tomorrow afternoon hoping to avenge last season’s 5-0 thrashing at the hands of the Cumbrians.
Vital Quotes:
Karl Robinson told the official site: ‘I remember their fans chanting ‘Easy, Easy!’ and ‘We want six!’ towards the end of the game. I’ll remember that.
‘They’ve done me a good turn actually because I haven’t needed to motivate the players after what happened last year. We owe our fans a good performance after that, it’s now up to the players to turn up and put in a great display if we want to get the result.’
Greg Abbott told carlisleunited.co.uk: ‘We have MK Dons next and the games against them last season were unbelievable.
‘I’d take being 3-0 up in 20 minutes tomorrow, but I wouldn’t like to be 4-3 winners in the end because that really put us through the mill. I think we won comfortably here in the home game with what was one of our best performances of the season, but I think this will be a tough one.’
Carlisle Team News:
Danny Livesey misses out with a groin injury, but other than that, Greg Abbott has a full squad to pick from.
Player to watch: Ian Harte
Known by many for his spell at Leeds, Harte has a goal in a Champions League quarter-final among his many achievements, and Irish fans may remember his penalty miss against Spain at the 2002 World Cup. A dead-ball specialist and match winner on his day.
MK Dons Team News:
Mat Doumbe returns from the suspension hanging over him from last season, whilst Didi Hamann will return to the side after sitting out the Dagenham game. Pele, Wilbraham and Stirling all miss out through injury, and Gary MacKenzie is still fighting his way to full fitness.
Player to watch: Jermaine Easter
Looked bright so far this season but failed to get off the mark, Easter will be desperate to get on the scoresheet at Brunton Park after Jabo Ibehre staked a claim for his place with his double over Dagenham last Tuesday.
Tale of the Tape
Last season: Carlisle 5-0 MK Dons/MK Dons 3-4 Carlisle.
Dons overall record: W5, L5, D2.
Next Fixtures:
Carlisle: Colchester (A), Swindon (H), Sheffield Wednesday (A).
Dons: Swindon (H), Blackpool (H, League Cup), Hartlepool (H).
