Football – England – League One
Saturday 24th January 2015 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
MK Dons served notice to the rest of the teams chasing the play-off pack last Saturday when they beat Sheffield United 1-0 at stadium:mk which consolidated their position in third place in League One.
Although MK Dons are some six points adrift of both Swindon Town and Bristol City, they’ll be looking for more of the same this afternoon when they host another Yorkshire club, Barnsley. The Dons have lost just once in their last fifteen league matches, and amongst their recent wins, they’ve dished out a 6-0 thumping to Colchester United, a 7-0 demolition of Oldham Athletic and the solid result over The Blades.
The host’s home record stands at 9-2-2 34/12 and given these recent heavy wins, it’s perhaps no surprise they are the league’s highest goalscorers at home by some margin. On the subject of goalscoring, the possible anytime goalscorers for the hosts look to be Alli, Grigg or Bowditch.
Barnsley have won just twice in their last eight League One matches which were wins over Leyton Orient and Yeovil Town although we should note that both of these rare successes were recorded at their Oakwell ground.
Meanwhile, on the road, The Tykes possess a below-par away record of 3-3-6 11/15 and they’ve lost their last four on their travels with defeats at Chesterfield, Walsall, Preston North End and Doncaster Rovers. In addition, Barnsley have kept just three clean sheets from their twelve away matches to date, and they’re certain to be tested at the back this afternoon I’m sure.
With both Bristol City and Swindon Town out of League One action this weekend (Bristol City in the FA Cup, while Swindon’s opponents, Bradford City are playing Chelsea in the cup), so The Dons have extra incentive to take all three points today which I am confident they’ll achieve in perhaps a 2-0 win – MK Dons to also cover the -1 line.
Pick: MK Dons AH-1 @ 1.89 Bet Victor
