Morecambe vs MK Dons preview
Monday 11 March 2019 17:25, UK
Morecambe defender Jordan Cranston will sit out Tuesday night's League Two clash with MK Dons as he completes a two-match ban.
Cranston picked up his 10th booking of the season in the 3-2 defeat at Yeovil on March 2 and will be unavailable once again after missing Saturday's 3-0 win over Forest Green Rovers.
Manager Jim Bentley otherwise has no fresh selection issues, with midfielder Aaron Wildig having come through unscathed after playing 75 minutes at the weekend in his first senior appearance since Boxing Day. However, striker A-Jay Leitch-Smith remains on the sidelines with a hamstring injury which is likely to keep him out for the rest of the season.
MK Dons boss Paul Tisdale has no fresh injury concerns for the trip. David Wheeler is likely to keep his starting place after scoring the Dons' equaliser in Saturday's 3-1 win at Macclesfield on the back of a hat-trick for the club's Under-23s side.
Jake Hesketh dropped to the bench but came on as a second-half substitute and he will hope to return. Ousseynou Cisse's withdrawal at half-time was tactical as Tisdale opted for a three-man defence and that worked well, leaving the Dons boss with a formation poser.
Opta stats
Morecambe have never previously beaten MK Dons in the Football League, drawing one and losing two of their three meetings to date.
This will be MK Dons' first away game at Morecambe in the Football League since September 2007, when they won 1-0 in a fourth-tier clash.
Morecambe haven't won consecutive home league games since January to February 2017; they beat Forest Green 3-0 last time out.
MK Dons are unbeaten in their last 22 Tuesday matches in League Two (W16 D6), with their last loss on this day in the competition coming at Dennis Wise's Swindon in September 2006.
MK Dons' Paul Tisdale has won four of his last five league meetings with Morecambe, although he did lose the other in his most recent game at the Globe Arena as Exeter manager in March 2018.
