The Spireites return to the SMH Group Stadium today to face MK Dons in the next game of a busy festive period, after back-to-back games on the road at Fleetwood Town and Bradford City.
The Dons currently sit 11th in League Two and three points behind the Spireites, who dropped out of the play-off positions to 9th following the loss at Bradford, with two games in hand.
MK Dons go into the game having only picked up one point in their previous four matches with a thrilling 6-3 defeat at Newport County being the most eye-catching score line of those last four.
Last Time Out
It was only in early December that the Spireites faced off against MK Dons on a Tuesday night at Stadium MK, which resulted in a score line that Paul Cook and his side will be eager to not let happen again as the hosts, on the night, ran out 3-0 victors.
The Dons took the lead within a minute through Scott Hogan and two quick yellow cards for Darren Oldaker saw him sent off and the game was killed off by an Alex Gilbey brace.
The last time MK Dons came to the SMH Group Stadium was both sides’ first games of 2017 on January 2 which ended goalless in League One with the likes of Jay O’Shea, Ian Evatt and Gboly Ariyibi featuring for the Spireites.
Manager – Scott Lindsey
Scott Lindsey joined MK Dons on September 25, 2024, early in the current season with his first game being a 1-1 draw away at Bromley.
Replacing Mike Williamson who left the club less than a week prior to the arrival of the Lindsey with the Dons at the bottom end of the table at the start of the season.
Since Lindsey’s arrival, form improved, and MK Dons climbed the table now sitting just five points off the play-off places and six points from the automatic promotion places in what is a very tight top-end of League Two.
Last season, Lindsey oversaw Crawley Town who defeated MK Dons 8-1 on aggregate in the League Two play-off semi-final, the largest play-off victory in the Football League’s history. They went on to defeat Crewe Alexandra 2-0 at Wembley to get promoted to League One.
Player-in-focus: Alex Gibley
Gibley, who scored a brace against the Spireites in December, has nine league goals for the season which makes him the sixth top scorer in the division going into New Year’s Day and the Dons’ top scorer, five more than second placed Joe White with four goals this season.
Last season was Gibley’s best goalscoring season of his career with 14 goals and with nine already by the new year, he will look to set a new personal best by the end of this current season.
