Blues on the brink

Dunstable Town are on the brink of second successive promotion this Saturday.

Following last season's unbeaten league campaign that yielded 143 points and a goal difference of 110, Darren Croft's side went into the Calor League Division One Central.

The Town,who boast the likes of Kerry Dixon and George Best in their ranks in times gone by, kept talisman Lee Roache following last season's success and the former Barnet striker has scored 22 league goals this season. Backed up by winger Chris Marsh who has chipped in with 14 league goals and the likes of Nathan Frater and former Luton player Adam Watkins, the Blues find themselves just one win away from a double promotion.

This win however, must come on the final day of the season tomorrow, at home to 10th placed Uxbridge.  With Kettering Town, rugby Town and Daventry Town hot on their heels for the one and only automatic promotion spot, the Creasey Park side have no room for error come 3pm.

Should the Blues be promoted,they will find themselves in the Calor League Premier amongst the likes of fellow Bedfordshire sides Arlesey Town and Biggleswade Town.

MK Dons player of the season 13/14

So here we are again, time to vote for your MK Dons player of the season.  It's been a season similar to last year for Karl Robinson's men with a long injury list, inconsistency and the usual ups and downs that any team goes through, but through this, there have been some shining lights in the Dons camp this year, here are my top 5-

5. Dean Lewington

Dons' skipper and long time servant Dean Lewington has beenalmost ever present this campaign.  After an early injury suffered in the opening day draw with Shrewsbury, left-back Lewington has never looked back barely missing a game since.  Lewie is a bit like your Grandad, not as quick as he once was, always there when you need him and has a very good day every now and again.  Another consistent year for Lewie, solid and mostly ever-present patrolling up and down the touch line and screaming at another unsuspecting linesman.  With highs such as his last minute winner at Stevenage and his upcoming 500th game (providing he doesn't miss another game) at home to Leyton Orient, a player of the year gong would be a perfect way to cap off the red haired full-back's 10th season as an MK Dons player, his 500th game and 30th birthday.

4. Patrick Bamford

Baby-faced Bamford may have only blessed us with his presence for half a season this term, but what a half a season it was.  Full of goals, passionate celebrations and the odd piece of eye candy supporting him at games. Personally, I never saw what was to come when it was announced the Nottingham-born striker was resigning for his 3rd loan at Stadium:MK but it was definitely a welcomed surprise.  17 goals in 30 appearances for the Dons and his first England u21 call-up left a host of Championship clubs fighting for his signature come January and it was Steve McClaren's Derby that won the race as Bamford inevitably took the Championship in his stride. Definitely a contender and one can only wonder where the Dons would be if we could have retained the 20 year old.

3. Stephen Gleeson

Stephen Gleeson- the man that only scores wonder-strikes.  Once again, the fiery Irishman has been a shining light in the heart of the Milton Keynes' midfield.  Determined to play as many games as possible after his broken foot last season a series of niggling short team injuries have kept the 25-year old out for various short periods across the year.  Gleeson has of course added 10 yellow cards to his 2 long range strikes against Port Vale and Crawley.  With his undoubted quality Gleeson is sure to want to try himself in the Championship before too long but whether it will be with the Dons or not is yet to be known.  Another season where the former Wolves' man has shown his class has definitely left him in the mix for the award later this month.

2. David Martin

 The son of former West Ham and England defender Alvin Martin, David along with skipper Lewington are the only 2 players left in the Dons ranks from the move north from South London.  For the second season running goalkeeper Martin has suffered with his fair share of injuries during October but has been unmovable from between the sticks since.  Putting in a number of man of the match performances already this season, the Dons number one has been in fine form and kept Karl Robinson's side in games on numerous occasions, often being the base for the men from MK1 to go and pick up valuable points in their quest for the play-offs. Despite his couple of costly mistakes at Bradford and Swindon, a usually calming and reassuring persona at the back has been a key to the Dons success this season.

1.Ben Reeves

Dons current top goalscorer and my personal choice for the award has to be Ben Reeves. In his first permanent move from boyhood club Southampton, Karl Robinson's first signing of the 2013 Summer took time to settle in Buckinghamshire, due to the fact he was used to playing slightly deeper than his 'number 10' role assigned by manager Robinson.  But after a run of 6 goals in 10 games over December and January any Dons fan will find it hard to question Robinson's persistence in Reeves.  The Summer signing has even managed to force out Premier League winner Luke Chadwick who was sent out on loan to Cambridge.  With his willingness to work non-stop for 90 minutes on a Saturday and his talent he has shown such as an impressive 30 yard strike in the 3-2 win at Stevenage, Reeves has to be my pick for MK Dons player of the year 2013/14 and his ankle injury suffered last month will not be enough to ruin what has been a brilliant first season in an MK Dons shirt.

Barker Hired

Richie Barker has today been appointed as Karl Robinson's assistant at MK Dons.

Dons boss of almost 4 seasons, Robinson is now onto his fourth number 2 after the unsuccessful appointment of Mick Harford, that lasted just one season, and Gary Waddock.

2 weeks ago tomorrow (Saturday) former Wycombe, Aldershot and QPR boss Waddock left his post as Robinson's right-hand man to take over at league 2 promotion chasers Oxford United.

Barker, fresh from his Pompey firing earlier in the week, was quick to secure his place back in football, taking a short term deal after spells in charge of Bury and Crawley preceded his 20-game Pompey reign.

Providing all goes well, one can assume that the 38 year old will take the role full time as Karl Robinson seeks for a long-term, successful replacement to Waddock.

Barker will be in the dugout for MK Dons' visit of league leaders Wolves on Saturday.

Dons duo out for Wolves

Karl Robinson will be without Izale McLeod and Stephen Gleeson at his disposal on Saturday afternoon when Wolves come to town.

Striker, McLeod, is the Dons all time leading goalscorer in his second spell with the club after rejoining last January. The Birmingham-born striker has chipped in with 7 goals this season and will be out for around  2 weeks with a calf problem.

Ex-Wolves midfielder Gleeson was due to return from a 2 match ban for 10 yellow cards.  He joined Stadium:MK side on loan in 2009 before making the move permanent that summer.  He has since gone on to be one of Karl Robinson's most valuable players and is the Dons vice-captain.  He will also be out for around a fortnight.

They join defender Lee Hodson and midfielders Darren Potter and loanee Larnell Cole on the injury list.

Finally, young defender Harry Hickford has joined Skrill South side Chelmsford City on loan till the end of the season.

Flanagan Farmed out to Boro

MK Dons have today agreed to loan out 22 year old defender Tom Flanagan.

 Flanagan, who came through the youth system at the Dons alongside the likes of Sam Baldock and Daniel Powell, will go straight into the Graham Westley's squad for the trip to Coventry tonight.

Branded a potential captain by some, the centre-back broke onto the scene in the 2011-12 season, making 28 appearances and scoring 3 goals as Karl Robinson's side finished 5th, losing out to Huddersfield in the play-offs.

Following that, the form of the more experienced Gary MacKenzie, Mathias Doumbe, Shaun Williams and Antony Kay meant first time opportunities would be rare for Flanagan so the Dons loaned him out to Gillingham and then Barnet in 2012/13.  He made 0 first team appearances for the Stadium:MK side last term.

On his return at the start of this season the academy graduate once again found it tough nailing down a place until Antony Kay's 10 week hip injury.  Flanagan made his first appearance of the season at former club Gillingham and gave away 2 penalties and received a red card all within the first 9 minutes.  He went on to play 2 more games, scoring one own goal before Dons boss Robinson brought in Jordan Spence from West Ham and Flanagan hasn't seen any first team action since.

After just signing a new 1-year contract, Flanagan will be keen to finish of this season well at relegation threatened Stevenage, gaining some valuable match experience and taking it into the 2014-15 campaign.

Harry Wright. (@harrymkdons04)

Is Ryan Hall the man to stop the Dons rot?

The Dons have won just 5 of their last 16 games in all competitions, without scoring in 324 minutes of football.  The problem is there for all to see but is Ryan Hall the answer to Karl Robinson's problems? I'm not too sure.

Firstly, the signing of the ex-Leeds and Southend winger leaves the Dons with 7, yes 7 players who can play on the wings. (Bowditch, Reeves, Alli, Powell, Baldock, Carruthers and Hall). Okay, they're not all out and out wingers but the point still stands.  Karl has been moaning that he's short on strikers but he now has 7 wingers and 2 strikers in the squad.  Now if he is trying to sign another one fair enough but he needs to get on with it.

However, this lad clearly has promise.  Coming through the non-league pyramid and finding himself in league two can be slightly daunting.  However 25 assists and 14 goals says to me as a winger, he's got pretty much everything we could ask for right? Then again, for the assists to come, there has to be someone to stick the ball in the net, which seems to be the problem at the moment.

My personal opinion and has been for some time is that George Baldock deserves more game time.  Whenever I see him on the pitch, things happen.  Even from right-back away at Wigan, that extra bit of pace and passion being a local lad has seen him do things that I haven't seen from the likes of Carruthers which makes me think that all this does for George is push him even further down the pecking order and eventually, we'll lose what I believe to be one of our biggest assets, silly move Robbo.

He also seems to have an attitude problem, I seem to recall during his failed time at Leeds, he tweeted something along the lines of 'if you're not getting played, drop the L.'  Now if he's going to have the same attitude as the last number 21 we had, I'm not too keen on him either.

But then again, it's a free deal and it's only for a few months, so then Mr.Robinson, I leave it to you, another striker and making sure this lad stays happy and produces quality is all I ask, is that too much to ask? Only time will tell...