Dons go into Tuesday night’s match at Roots Hall unbeaten in the League.
And they have enjoyed a couple of good nights at the seaside in recent campaigns knocking down Southend’s castle twice in a row.
It was 1-0 to AFC last season, courtesy of ex-Shrimper Jack Midson’s 58th minute penalty, and a 3-1 away win before that. But in one of football’s bizarre sequences, Dons have lost all three to Southend back at Kingsmeadow.
The best in blue by some distance over the last couple of seasons is much-coveted keeper Dan Bentley. Matt Tubbs has his work cut out to score for the fourth time in a row against the 21-year-old, despite Saturday's win at Luton.
The surprise is Basildon-born Bentley is still on the Essex riviera after earning rave reviews that saw him twice send Southend through to next round of the JPT and FA Cup in penalty shoot outs, along with other top performances including a match-winning performance against Stevenage on Saturday.
Luke Prosser has earned plaudits for his dominance in the centre of defence and continued to wear a head bandage last season for good luck even after he recovered from a gash up top.
Injured towards the tail end of the campaign that took United to the play-offs, he has been restored to the centre of defence.
Chances are, the Irish centre forward Blues fans call BBBC (Big Bad Barry Corr) will come up against either Mark Phillips or Adam Barrett in Dons defence - themselves former Shrimper heroes. Corr is a throwback to the hard, awkward target man, but no less effective for all that.
