Milton Keynes Dons

Just over a week ago, the Dons twice came from behind to draw 3-3 in a thrilling game at the DW Stadium and force tonight’s replay between the two teams.

But the Liverpudlian believes the Latics won’t take his side as lightly as they did the first time around and therefore, is expecting another exciting and difficult match. He told the media: “It will be a very good game of football; they will come here with a little bit more respect than what some of them may have showed in the first game. 

“I think (Ben) Watson will be back in, (Nick) Powell will be in, so they will be stronger than the team that we faced up at their stadium. Although it’s only two players it’ll definitely strengthen them.

“However, we’ll be educated by one or two of the components that we saw last time and there will be parts of our game that might be different or we might want to improve on. When you’re prepping your team you can use experiences of last time because it’s still very fresh and clear in the players’ minds. 

“But they’ll be in exactly the same boat. It’s not just a case of we know them more or they know us more, everything is very parallel.”

Players are now starting to return to the Dons squad after the early part of the season was ravaged by injuries to many players including Luke Chadwick, Dele Alli, Antony Kay and Dean Bowditch.

And, because of this, Robinson insists his team deserve more plaudits than what they are getting. He added: “I think the players deserve more appreciation because what we’ve gone through this year is arguably worse than any other football club in this league, in terms of injuries.

“To still be in touching distance of the playoffs and nearly in the Fourth Round of The FA Cup after how difficult it’s been for us all, I think we’ve all stood up and been counted.”