STONES ARE IN A WYNTER WONDERLAND
ALEX WYNTER has sent out a chilling message to League One big guns MK Dons – ‘We’ve beaten one Football League side away, there’s no reason why we can’t do it again’.
The England C centreback was part of the Maidstone United team that produced, arguably, the shock of the first round with a 4-2 away win at League Two Cheltenham Town.
Now the 24-year-old is plotting the downfall of the Dons at stadium:MK and believes the Stones have what it takes to produce another giantkilling act and seal a place in the third-round hat with the Premier League big boys.
“It's a great stadium and a great pitch so hopefully we can go there and play our stuff,” the former Colchester United defender said. “But MK are a good team so we are going to have to do our homework on them and make sure we are prepared.
“We gained a lot of confidence from the Cheltenham game. We showed that we can go to a team from a higher league and beat them so there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.”
Wynter had to wait an agonising half an hour to discover Maidstone’s fate in the second round draw as he was locked in an England C team meeting with a strict mobile phone ban in place. But thanks to the wonders of social media, it wasn’t long before Wynter was celebrating with his Stones’ teammates. “I had to wait patiently as we had a team meeting in the hotel at 7pm which run over a bit, but once it finished I was straight on the phone to find out who we had got,” he revealed. “I had about 60 messages on the team group chat so read those and joined in the chat later. MK Dons is a great tie for us, all the boys are buzzing for it.”
However, it’s not just the FA Cup which is whetting the appetite of Jay Saunders’ Stones right now, the prospects of a successful National League campaign has also captured the imagination of everyone at the Gallagher Stadium.
The Stones lie fifth in the table, five points off the top with a game in hand, before yesterday’s trip to Torquay United, and Wynter believes it’s all up for grabs.
He added: “It’s crazy how tight this is. You can lose a couple of games and be in the bottom half, win a couple and be top of the table. It really is weird this season but we’re all enjoying it and hoping we can push on.
“We still haven’t hit our best form yet, there’s more to come from us. We’ve come on leaps and bounds over the last few weeks but for now we’re just happy to be in amongst it.”