Wembley win was Dons' first positive impact in Milton Keynes

Dean Lewington celebrates with Wembley scorers Sean O'Hanlon and Keith Andrews

Lifting the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final in front of 30,000 travelling fans put MK Dons on the map for the right reasons.

Controversial beginnings to this day put Dons amongst football's biggest pariahs. Add to it two seasons lurking at the wrong end of League One and a failed play-off campaign in League Two, there was little for the people of Milton Keynes to be proud of.

But their race to the League Two crown in 2008 alongside a trip to Wembley for their chance to lift silverware for the first time gave the new city a reason to look fondly on their new club.

"It was the first positive impact the club had I think," said captain Dean Lewington, who played in the final. "I definitely think it's in the top three of the most important moments in the club's history. It's definitely a nice memory to have.

"Until that season, we were at the Hockey Stadium, we were scrapping about at the bottom of the league, weren't winning many games. But that season, we had a big name in Paul Ince, we were winning games and we gave the fans, and people in Milton Keynes, something to celebrate."

Winning the final 2-0 against fellow League Two side Grimsby Town, Dons went on an unbeaten run which saw them secure promotion five games later, and the League Two crown a week after that.

And that momentum carried into the following season as Dons narrowly missed out on back-to-back promotions, losing to Scunthorpe on penalties in the play-off semi-final in 2009.

Lewington continued: "We were on a good run heading to Wembley anyway, but people were worried it may have been a distraction from the league. But I don't think we lost another game in the run-in. It gave us a lot of momentum heading into the next season too.

"It was a really disrupted summer, with Ince leaving, Roberto (di Matteo) coming in, Keith (Andrews) wanted to leave because he knew Blackburn were interested and he felt the club were standing in his way of going to the Premier League. But we kept together most of the team from the previous season, and even though we lost the first game, we fought all the way with Peterborough. It's a shame we got pipped by them at the end."