AFC Dunstable v Milton Keynes Irish

Milton Keynes Irish will travel for their second successive away trip of the season when they face AFC Dunstable at Creasey Park on Saturday. 

This fixture comes after the spirited Bank Holiday Monday loss against Leighton Town, and Terry Shrieves will be hoping his side can kick on to take three points with them back to Manor Fields. 

Shrieves believes his players “need that spark to get going” in the Southern League Division One Central, and their last performance was encouraging, suggesting that a win might be on the horizon for the current Spartan South Midlands League holders. 

AFC Dunstable have picked up five points from four games this season, beating Welwyn Garden City in gameweek two, after they had previously beaten MK Irish 4-2 in the opening fixture of the season. 

Dunstable have drawn against Northwood and Hadley at Creasey Park in the current campaign, which leaves the side unbeaten in all competitions at home. 

The manager remarks that their opponents are an “established side in this league and it will be a tough game of football” for his team, who haven’t picked up a point in August. 

A win would be enough to take MK Irish out of the bottom three, which they currently occupy with Stotfold and Thame United. 

It seems that these two sides haven’t faced each other before in a competitive fixture, and it will be interesting to see which side will come out victorious in their first encounter when MK Irish travel to Creasey Park. 

AFC Dunstable finished 14th last season in the 2024-25 campaign under the joint management of Joe Oxley and James Townsend, and they will be hoping to climb much higher this season with some talented young players on their books. 

They currently boast former MK Dons players in their ranks, with Seb Stacey, Phoenix Scholtz, Tommy Blennerhassett, and Tali Jallow completing the quartet in what appears to be a very talented, young squad for AFC Dunstable. 

The home side lost 5-2 in their previous fixture in their only league loss of the season when they played Enfield away on Bank Holiday Monday. 

The club was founded in 1981 as Old Dunstablians, where they played in local leagues before joining the SSML and progressing to the Southern League Division One Central.

AFC Dunstable will see this as a must-win fixture, whereas MK Irish will be wanting to push on from the most recent performance, where they were arguably unlucky to walk away from Leighton Town without a point. 

Milton Keynes Irish will kick off at Creasey Park against AFC Dunstable on the 30th of August with a 3pm start time, and the away side will hope that they will be able to rise to the occasion and record their first league win of the season.