A look ahead to MK Dons' trip to promotion rivals Salford City
Previewing MK Dons’ trip to the Peninsula Stadium to take on Salford City, kicking off at 3pm
Both MK Dons and Salford City will be eager to get back to winning ways and to get their promotion challenges back in motion when they meet on Saturday.
Paul Warne and Karl Robinson are certainly no strangers to one another, nor battling at the sharp end at this time of year. While Dons remain in second spot, Salford sit sixth despite both sides suffering defeats last time out. Both sides too were on the back of four consecutive wins.
Salford are firmly in the play-off spots with eight games to play, with a five-point gap to Grimsby and Chesterfield below, while they are five back from the automatic promotion places.
Dons meanwhile lost ground to leaders Bromley last weekend following the 3-1 defeat to Barnet, but Notts County’s midweek loss to Oldham means there is still a four-point gap back to the play-off places.
Robinson, of course, remains Dons’ longest ever serving manager, having spent six-and-a-half years in charge at Stadium MK from 2010-2016. Since his departure though, during time at Charlton, Oxford and now the Ammies, he has been in the opposing dugout 17 times, winning seven, losing six and drawing four.
While they did the double last season, Salford have lost the other three encounters when the sides have met, including earlier this season when, at MK1, goals at the end of each half from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Callum Paterson secured a 2-0 win for Dons.
And both players, as well as Will Collar and Curtis Nelson could return to the Dons squad to offer reinforcements for the trip to the Peninsula Stadium.
Referee Thomas Parsons will take charge of the game, his 30th appearance of the season. In his previous 29 he has shown 92 yellow cards, three reds and awarded eight penalties. In eight League Two games this season, the home team has won once, with the away team picking up maximum points on four occasions, with three draws.
In five Dons games, Parsons has overseen one win, one draw and three defeats, with his most recent game coming in January 2025 and the 2-1 defeat to Fleetwood at Highbury Stadium. In his two Salford games, both have ended in draws.
Bookmakers bet365.com have Dons at 27/20 to win the game, with Salford at 2/1 and 11/5 the draw.