Dons head coach Mark Robinson proud to be the man in the dugout marking fans’ return to Plough Lane after 30 years in exile

AFC Wimbledon boss Mark Robinson might find it hard to focus on the three points when he walks to the dugout tomorrow to mark the first time fans can return after 30 years of their exile.

The Dons play their first competitive match in Plough Lane since 1991, a sell-out League One test against Bolton.

He will order his players to focus on the proper process of preparing for a vital match, after their storming start to the campaign, with two away wins.

But the head coach’s thoughts will turn, as he arrives at their new home, to his father Tony, who died soon after his son began working at the club they loved.

Fans will also be thinking of members of their family who never got to see the Dons’ own Promised Land.

And the managers who helped bring them to this unlikely stage – Dave Anderson, Terry Brown, Neal Ardley, Wally Downes and Glynn Hodges. Even more crucial to the logistics of the move – steering it through the planning process – were former chief executive Erik Samuelson and then-Merton council leader Steve Alambritis.

One person not on the guest list will be Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who blocked building the ground while he was mayor of London – costing the Dons hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Robinson said:  “It is a massive honour to be the head coach for this occasion.

“I have been with the Dons 16 years so I am very proud and lucky to be the one on the touchline for the first ever league game in front of fans at our ground. It is history in the making – and no one can take that away from you.

“It will only happen once so we want everyone to enjoy it.

“And my dad Tony is never far from my thoughts. Though he died 15 years ago, it is him who drives me on. I fell in love with this club because it is so in line with what he believed. I like to feel he will be there.

“I will also think of Nigel Hicks, who gave me the chance – when I was an unqualified coach – to build up the youth set-up, eventually into an academy, when we were still in non-league.

“I will also be thanking Tony Wilson, who gave me my first coaching job.” Robinson was a youth player himself at the time, at Fulham.

“I also want to thank Wally Downes – because he brought me closer to the first team, where I am now.

“He must have seen something which he thought would work. “If he had not done that, this opportunity might never have arisen.”

But Robinson warned his fledgling squad they must play the game, not the occasion.

“We are process-driven,” he said. “That is how we must prepare – and we have to try and take the emotion out of it so we can perform.”