Drewe's Back on the Market

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wimbledon/7406486.stm

So Drewe Broughton is looking for a new club! I'll stick my head above the parapet and say I'm one of the minority-I'd have him back!

Not that I think that's on the agenda-Brian Little clearly wantsw as clean a slate as possible, and only the youngsters are going to be given a second chance in general. I'd be happy to see Broughton lending his weight to our efforts to return to the Football League for a few reasons though.

Firstly, I should admit that I do see why people are not keen on the notion. He hardly peppered opposing goalkeepers with shots and his strike rate was completely unacceptable. However, he does cause disruption and could do a very good job in support of a prolific striker (where we get one of them from is, admittedly, a good question!)

I'm not going to claim he'd score more at Conference level-I don't think the issue of his inability to score would be resolved by dropping a league. His committment would be a great asset though; you can't claim he wouldn't put himself about, and I think we might need a bit of that next season.

His return would also give my "Jim Steel's Love Child" t-shirt a reprieve.

MK Dons podcast

The Mk Dons podcast is up at www.wrexhamfan.co.uk featuring Brian Little, Neil Taylor and Dons assistant boss Ray Matthias.

Broughton To Stay?

Always be wary of internet rumours, but I've heard a strong hint from MK Dons that Drewe Broughton will be signing until the end of the season with the intention to stay longer-I would assume depending on the outcome of the relegation struggle!

I hope that's true as losing him would be a huge blow. At last we have someone with the ability to make the ball stick up the right end of the pitch. We can't afford to lose him.

Interesting Timing

I can't help noticing that Hereford called tonight's match off at roughly the same time as MK Dons called off our afternoon kick-off last Saturday. Nice to see a club that treats us with a bit of respect.

MK Dons podcast

Click here for a rant about driving 300 miles for nothing!

A Wasted Day

There#s something no Wrexham fan got to see today-the inside of stadiummk. The question is why not?

When Wrexham arrived at the ground at 1.20-about five minutes after me-they thought they were going to be playing a game. Can you believe this? When Borras Park Under 10s have their game called off I get a call in advance so I don't have to take my lad to the park. Are we really to believe that MK Dons are less capable of organising themselves? Apparently half the pitch was frozen solid at 1.30 so why wasn't there an early inspection? Surely that's just basic common sense. Are MK Dons so new at running a football team that they don't know what to do if the pitch doesn't look good? Apart from the fact that a local ref could have gone and had a look in the morning, the match referee was only from London-why wasn't he contacted?

I'd hate to think, after the sour grapes when we beat them last month, that this was more than just incompetence.

So, a pointless round trip of just over three hundred miles, and I get back to find that another run of bizarre results by the sides at the bottom of the table-ten goals in five days for Dagenham, Mansfield winning at Darlington-leave us seven points short of safety. What a great day!

It's Duffy Time!

With Drewe Broughton ineligible to play against his parent club on Saturday, is it time for Rob Duffy to show us what he can do?

Michael Proctor might disagree, as he has found some form from the bench, looks to be ahead of Duffy in the pecking order, and having drawn compliments from Little about the way he has knuckled down and impressed the boss, might feel that it's only right that he should get the nod.

However, if Little makes the decision based on the balance of the team rather than whose turn it should be next, then surely Duffy gets the nod. Having Broughton up front has made a big difference; he's big and awkward and makes the ball stick up front, allowing our creative players to get around him and hurt the opposition. Furthermore, even if he can't win the ball, he makes it difficult for the opposing defenders to get it away.

Duffy looks to be cut from a similar cloth. He doesn't have the physical presence of Broughton, but he does have strength and also brings and ability to take free kicks and penalties to the party. He has also scored twice in each of his reserve games since arriving from Oxford, and there must surely be a curiosity on Little's part to see how he shapes up in the Football League.

It's harsh on Proctor, but surely this is Duffy's moment.

The final whistle after the MK Dons match

They Don't Like It Up 'Em!

Wrexham's performance yesterday could be measured by the Dons' mental deterioration as the game went on. They were certainly a side in Paul Ince's image on Saturday, getting increasingly fractious as the game went on, dissenting like no other side I've seen this season despite the fact that even their own website admitted that they got a lot of generous decisions, and hitting the deck in the manner of a man trying to convince social services he deserved a blue badge for his car! I delighted in all this. They didn't like it up 'em!

It carried on after the game, I can confirm courtesy of my co-commentator Rich. Firstly he overheard a comment from one of the their players as he trudged in from what looked from a distance like the most depressed, perfunctory warm-down I've ever seen. I've cleaned it up substantially, but it went along the lines of “We should lose to the bottom side in the country.”

Perhaps he was preparing himself for the salvo they were about to receive from their boss. Ince came stomping out to do the post-match interviews out on the pitch, brushing past a gang of us who were waiting in the tunnel on the way. He didn't take long to offer his words of wisdom as a couple of minutes later he came back in, and that's where it got really scary!

As he came back in he banged into Rich's back. Not a man likely to back down, Rich gave him a withering glare you might expect to see if Rafa Benitez opened his mail to find an invitation to a barbecue at Jurgen Klinsmann's place. Ince inevitably responded in kind and suddenly I felt like I was standing between Heather Mills and Paul McCartney. I'm not saying I'm a stranger to confrontation; I once had a row with ex-Manchester City striker Darren Beckford while on air which nearly turned very nasty. However, standing between one of the world's most renowned nineties' midfield hardmen and a bloke who's well over six foot and is likely to attack first and ask questions later isn't my idea of a stroll in the park. After what felt like an hour, but was probably just enough time for the director of a Spaghetti Western to cut across increasingly tightly to the two protagonists' narrowing eyes, Ince turned on his heel and made his way back to the changing room. Phew!

Brian Little after the MK Dons game

There's Nothing To Fear!

I took advantage of Wrexham having no game today to go and spy on Chester. I must admit that I approached the ground with a sense of trepidation, as I feared I would see a side which was much better than us. I did, but it was MK Dons.

Chester lost for the third game in a row, so we go into next week's match as the form team!

To be fair to Chester, if I must, you could see why they've had a good start to the season. They're a well organised side who all know their roles in a rigid 4-4-2. However, they were outclassed by an MK Dons side who are the best side I've seen in League Two this season by some distance. Chester will be hoping for a play-off spot at the end of the season, I suspect, rather than sustaining a push for the top three.

City started well, mind. At the start of the game they played the game at the high tempo which suits them and put the Dons under a lot of pressure. They looked to get the ball out early to the wide men, and Kevin Ellison and Richie Partridge are both players who will cause problems at this level. However, today they didn't show much of that pedigree, especially the ineffective Partridge.

Bobby Williamson said before the game that they lost at Bradford City last Saturday because they ran out of ideas, and they spent a lot of time in training last week working on that. Unfortunately for him, they ran out of ideas after just fifteen minutes today! As the pace of their good start petered out they began to be outmanoevred by a side who passed and moved impressively. City's midfield were full of industry but they lacked creativity, and suddenly they were chasing shadows as the game was being played on the visitors' terms.

They did manage to rouse themselves at the start of the second half, with the two wide men swapping flanks, a move which certainly suited Ellison, who began to cut inside and show some threat. They were already a goal down by then though-they'd been lucky to go in without having conceded more-and when they missed a couple of chances after the break you felt they would pay the price. They did. MK Dons scored on the break and despite missing a penalty-a lame effort by substitute Simon Yeo-they never threatened to get back into it.

Keeper Jon Danby looked shaky too, and his kicking under pressure was suspect.

So what to make of it? I often go to see teams before they play us, and until recently I'd have looked at today's performance and thought we had a good chance. The problem is, the way we've been playing lately, I can't feel the same way.

So let's put it this way: if Brian Little can make a difference, Chester aren't anything remarkable, and we can win it. If he can't, their much bigger midfield will eventually overwhelm ours, and in the second half we'll lose the game, like we did against Shrewsbury. And Hereford. And Rotherham. And Barnet.