MK Dons head coach Mike Williamson wants to focus on the task at hand rather than the occasion as his side take on rivals AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.
The history between the two teams doesn’t really need too much of an introduction, and it’s obviously going to be a game which will be fiercely contested.
Looking at the present, it’s also a match which has implications on the fight for promotion, although in different aspects. After a great run of form, MK Dons will be looking to move into the automatic promotion places before the end of the season and have a good chance of doing just that.
Although they may be sat in fifth, they sit just three points off of Crewe Alexandra in third and a further two behind table-toppers Mansfield Town. The race for both the automatic places as well as the title are still wide open, and MK Dons are more than in the hunt.
Looking at their opponents, Wimbledon at this point are trying to cling on to any chance of making the play-offs. With just one point from their last four games, they’ve dropped down to 13th and a loss in the early kick-off on Saturday could well kill off any ambitions of promotion that they had.
Mike Williamson knows the significance of the game in the course of the club’s season as well as the historical significance of it. He does however want his players to focus on the former rather than the latter and is hoping that the occasion does not distract his players.
In the return fixture, MK Dons comfortably won 3-1, putting the game to bed early in the first half, he’ll be hoping for a reproduction of that performance, but that may not be as easy away from home.
Speaking to the Milton Keynes Citizen prior to the match on Saturday, Williamson would say:
“The outcome is so important to us as staff and players, and club and supporters. The best way to ensure that is to be present in every moment. If you’re focussed on the objective at every moment, be that defending a throw-in or a set-piece, you don’t hear the noise, and that is the key. We just have to focus on the job we have to do.”
“We want to give the fans something to shout about, but we’ll let them do the talking and we’ll do the work on the pitch.”
“The lads know and realise one lapse of concentration, that momentum can be gone. For us, we’re focussed on how we can prepare as best we possibly can.”
“We have to block out the noise and focus on what we want, how we want to play and how we can go about it.”
Writer’s View
A win for MK Dons on Saturday would really allow them to put down their challenge for a place in the automatic places. Based on their recent form as well as their opponents, they’ll be the favourites, but three points is by no means a given.
It’s a smart interview by Williamson, who has done a great job since coming in. He’s level-headed and although he knows what it means to the fans, what’s most concerning to him is the on-pitch performance. If they don’t pick up all three points then they would lose some ground in the fight for the top three but they would by no means be out of it.
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