“No-one wants to be in this position”: Dons’ focus must now be on League One

The importance getting points on the board in League One is not lost on the MK Dons dressing room.

After a week focused on the Papa John’s Trophy and the FA Cup, attention is now back on Dons’ League One turmoil, with two home games coming up against Burton Albion and Fleetwood Town - sides in and around them in the table.

With Dons cut adrift, six points from safety in 21st place, picking up points in those two games will be essential for Manning’s side if they are to begin to seek escape from the bottom four come the New Year.

“No-one wants to be in this position,” said Manning. “I'm doing my best for the players, giving them all my energy to get them ready for the game coming up.

“If I spent my time stressing about it, feeling down or angry about it, it feeds off into the players. The next league game is important.

“Every game is crucial for us at the moment. Irrespective of where you are in the table, you never go into any game taking it lightly. We've got home games coming up, and we'll take the positives from our recent performances and build on it next week.”

Midfielder Conor Grant added: “I don't think any of us are happy with how it's gone so far, where we are in the league. It has been tough, but we're working hard.

“We know results in the league haven’t been good enough but we're confident we can turn it around.”

Having put in a good performance in the FA Cup loss to fellow League One side Portsmouth on Saturday, Irishman Dawson Devoy feels a repeat against Burton would result in a win for Dons.

He said: “I think if we put in a performance like that more times than not we'll get the result. We have to start getting points in the league now. More performances like that and we will.

“We know we've got quality, you can see it, and putting performances like that together we'll get better results.”