Crawley Town vs MK Dons Predictions

• Both teams have scored in five of Crawley’s last six matches
• Both teams have scored in four of MK Dons’ last five games
• Alex Gilbey has scored in three of his last four matches for MK Dons

Forget the form book and back both teams to score

The form book will probably count for little when MK Dons, the highest-ranked finishers of the League Two play-off contenders, travel to Broadfield Stadium on Sunday to face surprise package Crawley in the semi-final first leg.

The Dons began the season in the sort of fashion that made their fans believe automatic promotion was on the cards. But after a staggering drop- off and a change of manager, they rose up the table again from 19th to fourth and finished just eight points behind Mansfield.

Mike Williamson’s men are scoring goals, but will be slightly concerned at how many they conceded during the final weeks of the campaign during a 4-1 defeat to Mansfield, a 5-3 win at Harrogate and a 4-4 draw with relegated Sutton United.

Gilbey has got the golden goal touch

Crawley, meanwhile, defied the pre-season predictions of a relegation battle to seal a seventh-placed finish while playing some very good football.

Both sides favour a possession-based approach, but it was Crawley who won the possession battle in each of the two clubs’ regular-season meetings, which suggests they could again have the lion’s share of the ball on Monday.

While the Red Devils can go toe-to-toe with Milton Keynes in most facets of the game, the visitors probably just have the edge in terms of scoring goals with Alex Gilbey, who won the Dons’ Player and Goal of the season awards, an in-form forward to watch in this first leg.  The safest play for this encounter has to be both teams to score, which has landed with regularity when these two sides have played recently.