Home form must give teams a reason to fear MK Dons

It feels like a long time since MK Dons’ last league win at Stadium MK, coming on September 25 - 48 days in fact - but the reality of the matter is they have only played at home in League One twice in that time compared to their four away fixtures.

Picking up 13 points in seven league games at Stadium MK though leave them 13th in League One for home form, though most teams have played more games on familiar soil than Liam Manning’s side - only Accrington have played fewer home games.

With back-to-back home league games coming up for Dons, starting with Cambridge United at home on Saturday before Burton Albion visit Milton Keynes next weekend, Manning hopes his side can build a fear factor around coming Stadium MK again.

“We want to make Stadium MK a really difficult place to come, and I want teams to leave here thinking about how difficult it was,” he said. “That’s the challenge to the group – can we take the good elements of the games so far and put in a complete performance? We want to put on a really good performance and get a really good result tomorrow.”

Cambridge head to Milton Keynes for only their second visit. Sitting 10th, three spots back from Dons, Manning said his side will be in for a tough task to see off Mark Bonner’s men.

“It’s a really well-run club,” he continued. “If you look at how they got promoted, spending a period of time building up and backing Mark which they did a terrific job doing. They’ve taken the momentum of last year into this season and that deserves a huge amount of credit. It will be a really difficult game for us tomorrow.”