No room for complacency against bottom of the league Sutton

Bottom of the table Sutton United cannot be underestimated by MK Dons when they face each other on Saturday.

The U’s have lost seven in a row since their emphatic 5-1 opening day win over Notts County, and sit at the foot of the EFL with only three points.

But that victory over a side which took Dons the distance at Stadium MK two weeks ago for a 1-1 draw has given Graham Alexander and his squad a reason not to take Saturday’s game lightly.

“(Sutton’s league position) is completely irrelevant,” said Alexander. “If we set our standards by who we're playing, we've let ourselves down and we're doing ourselves a disservice.

“Sutton showed on day one what they can do to teams, I’ve been there with Salford so I know what they can do. We have to compete hard, and have full commitment.”

Dons head into the game picking up just a point from a possible nine in League Two, and after a poor show in the defeat to Stockport County last week, Alexander demands a response.

He continued: “We’ve had a sour taste in our mouth in recent games, up until Tuesday, but we responded exceptionally well.

“We have to look at Tuesday's performance (the 1-0 EFL Trophy win over Oxford United) and set that as our benchmark, regardless of who and where we play.”

Midfielder Jack Payne echoed the head coach’s sentiments. Having played at the VBS Community Stadium before, Payne said Dons are expecting a challenging environment.

He said: “It will be a tough game away at Sutton, I've been and played there a few times and it's always a really difficult place. They won the first game against Notts County so they've got that in them.

“We can by no means go there thinking we're guaranteed a win - far from it. We'll have to be at our best to get something out the game.”