It’s here again! That crazy, addictive white-knuckle ride begins once more, despite it feeling like only yesterday that we were going crazy after the Boreham Wood win.

Phil Parkinson has had the luxury of not needing to scramble around in the transfer market to rebuild his team, although the two players he has brought in – Will Boyle and James McClean – each represent a serious statement of intent.

McClean isn’t available for this match, and neither is talismanic striker Paul Mullin, who remains in the US after puncturing a lung against Manchester United. That means Parkinson has a decision to make up front, with Sam Dalby, Ollie Palmer and Billy Waters scrapping it out for the two striker’spositions.

Elliot Lee has played up front too, but it’s more likely he’ll remain in his midfield position. There’s a terrific amount of competition for places across the team, which is just how Parkinson likes it!

POSSIBLE LINE-UPS

MK Dons, meanwhile, are lead by Graham Alexander, a manager whose success in earning promotions in the lower divisions has earned him a growing reputation. He inherits a youthful squad which struggled in League One, both physically and creatively, before suffering relegation after 4 seasons at that level.

The greatest disappointment for Dons fans is surely how suddenly the decline came: the season before they finished 3rd and were foiled in the play-offs as they took aim at The Championship.

Old war horse Dean Lewington – he played for the MK Dons when the sides last clashes in the Football League! – probably won’t be lining up at The Racecourse as he missed most of pre-season through injury, Alexander has some interesting players in their early twenties in his squad: centre backs Warren O’Hora and Jack Tucker have impressed, while the fleet-of-foot Jonathan Leko is a player capable of flashes of brilliance.

An interesting decision facing Alexander is whether to reward Joel Anker for his excellent performance in the Dons’ final pre-season match. An unfortunate 3-1 home loss to Northampton was brightened by Anker’s performance in his first start at Stadium MK, having signed his first professional contract this Summer. Starting in a midfield three as the most attacking option, he supported the strikers well and enjoyed drifting to the left to find space before cutting in on his strong right foot to threaten the goal.

Alexander has experimented with a 3-5-2 and a 4-3-3 during pre-season as he assessed his squad, and he has given no clues to home his team will line up at Stok Cae Ras. If he is to take a punt on Anker’s promise and form, he’ll surely have to play three at the back to accommodate him.

Alexander has been busy in the transfer market, and has certainly tackled the task of addressing the perceived lack of physicality in his squad. The first signing was clearly a statement as Alex Gilbey returned to the club. An experienced all-round midfielder, he is already well loved by Dons fans, and will enjoy having North Walian MJ Williams alongside him. Williams is an aggressive, front-foot defensive midfielder who started off at Liverpool and arrived from Bolton Wanderers, where he played regularly over the last couple of seasons.

Cam Norman has arrived from Newport County and looks to be a terrific investment: a physical wing-back who can also slot into the centre of defence, he is a direct, powerful presence on the right whose data is impressive. With two new keepers recruited, plus the experience of New Zealand international Tommy Smith, Alexander has certainly shored up the squad in terms of experience. The arrival on Friday of Ashley Hunter offers a promise of more end product up front, although the attacking player’s 2022-3 season t Morecambe was ruined by injury. Having played under Alexander at Salford and Fleetwood, the manager will certainly know what he has to offer if he has put his injury problems behind him.

HEAD TO HEAD

Wrexham’s return to the Football League comes against opponents who unwittingly a major role in our decline into non-league football. We first faced MK Dons in the 2004-5 season, when we were demoted by the Football League’s harsh deduction of ten points.  If the penalty had not been applied, MK Dons would have gone down instead of us; indeed, if the two league fixtures that season had gone our way we would have saved our skins despite the punishment!  However, that was not to be the case, and the process of our collapse into the National League had begun.

The Dons’ most recent game at The Racecourse was a rare ray of sunlight in a depressing season which ended in relegation to the National League.

The visitors were top of the league and in fine form under manager Paul Ince, whereas Wrexham’s form was the exact opposite: a defeat would be the ninth in a row in all competitions, equalling the club record for  most consecutive losses, established in October 1963.  It would also have been our eighth in a row in the league, matching the second worst run of league defeats in the clubs history, suffered between January and March 1971. 

In goal for us was Gavin Ward, who in midweek had become the 6th oldest debutant in the history of the club, although the occasion was marked by a humiliating defeat to Llanelli in the Welsh Premier Cup.

One of the few bright spots in an awful season was the captain’s innings played by Neil Roberts. Ironically, in a side which was clearly well off the League Two pace, Roberts stood out as a player who was too good for that division. Having returned to The Racecourse for a second spell, Roberts was converted from a striker to a midfielder, presumably to try to keep him at the centre of events and carry the team. He made the three hundred and seventy-fifth appearance of his career against MK Dons, and would play a decisive role in a match which didn’t follow the script.

Wrexham battled heroically in heavy conditions, and triumphed thanks to superb late strike by Roberts, who lifted the ball home at the Kop end.

The season before, a high-flying Dons side were rocked by a robust first half performance from Wrexham, who led at the break through a Roberts goal.  However, some lax marking allowed Izale Macleod, who would sign for Wrexham 10 years later, to equalise soon after the restart and the Dons hit the winner with thirteen minutes left.

The only previous time MK Dons came to North Wales was in February 2005, when both sides were situated in the relegation places of League One.  Despite dominating the game, Wrexham just couldn’t make the breakthrough, gallingly being denied in the closing moments when substitute Hector Sam was thwarted by a good save from Matt Baker, who had been released by Denis Smith earlier that season. 

MK Dons stayed up by the skin of their teeth, while Wrexham, hamstrung by the Football League’s ten point penalty for entering administration, went down.

A Foot In Both Camps

It almost reads like a reality show: an impressive live audition on TV earning a player the big move which represented a huge career opportunity. That was what happened to Matt Baker, though, who signed for Wrexham after dumping us out of the FA Cup in spectacular manner.

Baker’s tour de force came in 2001 as Wrexham were struggling in League One, in goal for National League Hereford United. An FA Cup first round tie at Edgar Street was selected for live coverage by the BBC, who sniffed an upset. They were right, but Baker was the decisive factor, pulling off a string of magnificent saves. Denis Smith even threw Dennis Lawrence on as an emergency centre forward, but nothing could deny Baker his clean sheet in a 1-0 win.

His performance also earned him the interest of Aston Villa, with whom he trained, and he was a consistent force in the following season as Hereford narrowly missed out on promotion. Smith hadn’t forgotten his heroics, though, and signed him at the start of the 2004-05 season as cover for Andy Dibble.

Dibble was injury-prone at that late stage of his career, and Baker got his chance when Dibble had to come off at half time in an early season match against Bradford. Baker’s surprise debut went well as he completed the clean sheet to hold onto a 1-0 win, secured through a second minute Lawrence goal.

Although Dibble returned for the next match at Tranmere, he succumbed to injury once more and Baker had to come off the bench once more to complete the game and embark on a proper run in the team. Things weren’t so straightforward this time, as he conceded 3 goals to each of the Sheffield clubs in the next 2 matches, and let another 2 in in the next game, although Hector Sam’s late goal earned a 3-2 win at Notts County which would be the first step on the way to glory in the LDV Vans Final that season.

Baker wouldn’t be around by then, though. As his run in the side continued the results weren’t too bad – notwithstanding a 5-1 thrashing at Luton – and he played in the memorable 1-0 win at Chester in which Juan Ugarte scored his first Wrexham goal ans we took another step towards the Millennium Stadium. His final appearance for us, ironically, was a televised FA Cup ti which would be remembered for all the wrong reasons. It wasn’t just the result – an uncompetitive 2-0 loss at Scunthorpe – which dampened the mood, but also the distressing news which came out earlier in the day that the club had had to go into administration.

Dibble returned for the next game and Baker hoped for an exit, although he remained grateful to Wrexham:

“I have to be thankful for my time there because I pushed on”, he told the Evening Leader. “It was a good learning curve and I enjoyed it. They were a good group of lads and it was unfortunate they lost ten points through no fault of their own.”

“The fans were fantastic and without the the die-hards the club would not be in business.”

Matt Baker

He was given an immediate opportunity by a club who were just below Wrexham in the League One table. MK Dons appointed Danny Wilson to get them out of the relegation zone and within a week he’d signed Baker. Results improved and Baker immediately became a popular figure with the Dons fans.

He made a swift return to North Wales, when MK Dons arrived at Stok Cae Ras for a massive relegation clash in February 2005. Once more, Baker put in a fine performance to repel his recent team mates, and with Ben Foster keeping a clean sheet at the other end, the game ended in a goalless draw which was of little use to Smith’s team.

MK Dons stayed up, while Wrexham went down, but Baker’s career sadly didn’t have too much longer to run as a serious knee injury put an end to his playing days.

POTENTIAL LANDMARKS

Ryan Barnett’s 175th career appearance.

Callum McFadzean’s 175th career appearance.

Max Cleworth’s 50th league game for Wrexham.

Sam Dalby’s 50th Wrexham appearance.

Billy Waters’ 300th league appearance.