MK Dons boss Paul Warne spoke ahead of Saturday’s game against Harrogate Town

An in-form Harrogate Town are not to be taken lightly despite sitting bottom of League Two, Paul Warne has said.

Simon Weaver’s men are five unbeaten, picking up nine from a possible 15 points to move themselves within a point of safety, a feat which did not look possible just a few weeks ago. Beating Cambridge, and drawing with Chesterfield and Swindon in recent weeks, the Sulphurites have not only given themselves a chance of staying in the Football League this season, but have given Dons a boost too in the promotion race.

Looking to continue their own good form, taking on a Dons side unbeaten in ten, Warne believes Harrogate will be keen to upset the apple cart again on Saturday with their own safety aspirations at the forefront of their minds.

“Teams at the bottom are fighting and scrapping,” said Warne. “There are no given games. In fairness to Harrogate, they’re in really good form, so in no way is this an easy one. We never think that going into any game.

“Their running stats are just behind ours, their form and all the data we go off shows them in midtable.

“The team we’ll play on Saturday, if it’s similar to recent games, will only have two players we played against just before Christmas, so it is a completely different team.

“They narrowly lost to Swindon recently, beat Cambridge, drew with Chesterfield and Bromley, so they’ve taken points off good teams.

“I don’t regard them as a banana skin, but a difficult game and we’ll have to be at our best.”

With 12 games to go, Dons are seven points off leaders Bromley, but have a game in hand over the pace-setters. Though they are enjoying a decent run of form since the turn of the year, Warne said he expects more twists and turns over the coming weeks.

“No-one is going to go on and win ten or eleven games,” he continued. “It’s just not going to happen. You might have to win another six to get promoted if you’re in the top five.

“I expect a lot of changing of places again between now and the end of the season, so I never get too down if we drop points. We need to keep picking up points.”