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After two hard fought 1-1 draws away from home across the festive period we kick off the New Year with a home match against Milton Keynes. Tickets look to be selling well, although not in the West Stand it seems, so should be a decent crowd providing MK bring more than their normal coach load. I know it doesn’t count for anything but the calendar year League Two table has us in fifth with 72 points from 46 matches played so 2025 hasn’t been a bad year to be a U’s fan.
We had kept the same starting lineup for a few matches but Danny made changes for the Gillingham game with Hunt and Payne coming in for KVY and Tovide also Anderson looked to have picked up an injury on Monday night so I’m going to assume he’s unavailable which will be a big miss for us. I’m expecting the U’s to line up as follows:
Macey
Vincent Young Tucker Araujo Iandolo
Bishop Read
Lisbie Edwards
Tovide
Mbick
Subs
Smith Hunt Goodwin Tovide Terry Gape Gordon
I think Mbick has looked tired recently so wouldn't be surprised to see Tovide start. I’m not sure whether Akande is ready to play but he can’t be far off and I’m also unsure as to the fitness of Williams, Anderson and Oni so have left them out of the matchday 18.
MK had a difficult time in League Two last season, sacking two managers, but ended the season with the experienced Paul Warne in charge who, in my opinion, was a very good appointment. They’re probably not doing as well as they would’ve liked this season, given that they have one of the bigger budgets in the division, but are still in fourth position with the most number of goals scored and highest goal difference. I fully expect them to finish in the top seven but more than likely in the top three. They’re in decent form too with three wins and two draws in their last six league matches. They also have a 3rd Round FA Cup tie against Oxford to look forward to after knocking us out in the 1st Round back in November. In my head we don’t have a great record against MK and, according to the BBC, it’s just nine wins against 15 in our 28 meetings across all competitions. We did manage the rare feat of beating them three times last season and let’s hope they don’t do the reverse on us this season.
Aaron Collins, who had a loan spell at the U’s, is likely to start up front for MK but their top scorer, and captain, is Alex Gilbey who came through our academy making over 100 appearances for us before leaving for Wigan. His Wigan stay was short lived but he followed it up with successful periods at MK, Charlton and Stevenage (loan) before returning to MK in 2023. His goal return in his second spell is nearly one in every three matches which is pretty good going for a striker let alone a midfielder. I always rated Gilbey when he was here, his family used to live in my road and I once ate a steak cooked by his dad on his BBQ during a Royal street party, and I figured he would go on to bigger and better things but he’s not quite reached the heights I expected him too. He’s had a decent career though and arguably a better career than say Wordsworth or Moncur and even at 31 he’s probably still too good for League Two. Let’s hope we can keep him quiet tomorrow. Other players that have played for both the U’s and MK include Clive Platt, Izale McLeod (barely) and Clinton Morrison. Please feel free to add any others.
The weather at the Jobserve is set to be dry and sunny with a moderate breeze and a high of just six degrees after overnight frosts. Wrap up warm U’s fans, it’s going to be a really chilly one! I know we need to start winning games again but I just can’t see us beating MK so I’m going to have to go for another 1-1 draw with Lisbie grabbing the U’s goal.
No worries wessex, looks like MK falls to me then. Thanks for picking up Accrington. I did think we might get a few more volunteers than we have so far.
I'm confident over three maybe four answers but I can spell a three letter surname of a former Col U player out of those letters so going to be bold and go with that one.
Nice one wessex. Should be a good number of U's fans there this evening. Let's hope they can cheer us to victory. Feel like we need at least five points from the next three matches and getting three tonight would be a great start.
COVENTRY CITY v IPSWICH TOWN 2-1 LEICESTER CITY v DERBY COUNTY 2-1 MIDDLESBROUGH v HULL CITY 2-1 MILLWALL v BRISTOL CITY 2-1 WREXHAM v PRESTON NORTH END 2-1 CARDIFF CITY v STEVENAGE 2-1 BRISTOL ROVERS v BARNET 2-1 CHELTENHAM TOWN v SWINDON TOWN 1-2 CHESTERFIELD v CAMBRIDGE UNITED 2-1 MILTON KEYNES DONS v NOTTS COUNTY 2-1
Keeping with the Afcon theme Junior was originally credited with the Cameroon equaliser against the Ivory Coast but it's since been changed to an own goal.
Boxing Day in proper football leagues means football matches and the U’s face one of their shortest trips of the season as they venture across the Thames to face creepy Crawley. Crawley’s “stadium” is one of the few grounds I’ve gone away with the U’s (the 3-1 League Cup win back in 2019) and it felt like a ground that should be in the National League South but Crawley have been established in the football league since 2011 with two promotions to League One during that time which is impressive given the relative size of the club. We don’t have a huge history against Crawley Town, with just 24 meetings to date of which Crawley have won 11. In fact since that memorable League Cup win we hadn’t managed to beat Crawley until the, not as memorable but probably more important, 3-2 away win towards the end of the 2023/24 season that went a long way to helping us stay in this division.
Unless we have any new injury or illness worries I can’t see Danny making any changes to the starting XI that dismantled Newport County so comfortably on Saturday so I’m expecting the U’s to line up as follows:
Macey
Vincent Young Tucker Araujo Iandolo
Bishop Read
Lisbie Anderson
Mbick
Tovide
Subs
Smith Hunt Goodwin Payne Edwards Terry Williams (Gordon if not fit)
Payne and Edwards did their case for a starting spot no harm with their performances on Saturday and Akande must be close to making the matchday 18 too.
Crawley somehow made it into League One the season before last but their stay was short-lived and they haven’t hit the ground running on their return to League Two with Scott Lindsay back at the helm after a disappointing spell at MK. They currently sit a point above the bottom two and haven’t won since they beat Fleetwood on November 8th. They have had a tough run of games though with trips to Swindon, Bromley and somewhat unbelievably also led 3-2 at Salford before conceding two late goals to lose 4-3. They were also by far the better team against Swindon but didn’t take their chances and lost to a second half penalty, the kind of stuff that happens when you’re at the wrong end of the table.
Not sure there’s anyone in the current Crawley squad that has ever featured for the U’s and I can’t think of too many players that have played for both clubs. Luke Gambin is the only one that comes to mind. A player we signed from Luton in 2019 who had spent the previous season on loan at Crawley with his only goal for the U's being the third goal in the 3-1 victory against Crawley. I’m sure there must be others though.
The weather at the Broadfield Stadium is set to be dry and sunny with a moderate breeze and a high of just six degrees after overnight frosts. Wrap up warm U’s fans, it’s going to be a chilly one! I feel this may prove to be a trickier challenge than their league position suggests but these are the games we need to be winning if we want to climb up the table so I’m going for a hard fought 2-1 victory with goals from Mbick and Read.
It's fine for me on my laptop but when I'm on my phone I have popup come up every time I try to navigate anywhere on the site. It's pretty annoying as it seems to return no matter what I do.
Nice one wessex. I saw earlier that Kuffour Jr is out injured until the new year and that Ronnie Harvey has been recalled from Chelmsford so maybe we've got a few more injury concerns. Hoping Payne is ready for some minutes tomorrow.
CHARLTON ATHLETIC v OXFORD UNITED 2-1 DERBY COUNTY v PORTSMOUTH 2-1 PORT VALE v PETERBOROUGH 1-2 ROTHERHAM UNITED v HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 1-1 WYCOMBE WANDERERS v BOLTON WANDERERS 1-1 SHREWSBURY TOWN v CHESTERFIELD 2-2
I'd be pretty happy to stick with what we've got providing no one leaves.
JK is a bit of an enigma. I want him to do well but it hasn't really happened for him, not consistently anyway. For me Williams has struggled a bit and I'm not sure about Gape. I think Edwards has shown flashes of last season's form recently and could be a real asset the second half of the season.
Three former U's got their hands on a trophy yesterday with Shamal George, Mikael Mandron and Jayden Richardson all being part of the St Mirren team that won the Scottish League Cup.
Apologies to both BFG and mfb_cufc, totally missed this last week. It seems my predictions would've been soundly beaten anyway so not too disappointed. Best of luck in the next round BFG.
2nd Round Replay
CHELSEA v EVERTON 2-1 BIRMINGHAM CITY v CHARLTON ATHLETIC 2-1 MIDDLESBROUGH v QUEENS PARK RANGERS 2-1 MILLWALL v HULL CITY 2-1 BLACKPOOL v LINCOLN CITY 1-2 BURTON ALBION v WYCOMBE WANDERERS 1-2 PLYMOUTH ARGYLE v ROTHERHAM UNITED 1-1 CHELTENHAM TOWN v HARROGATE TOWN 2-1 GILLINGHAM v BARROW 2-1 NEWPORT COUNTY v FLEETWOOD TOWN 1-2
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