Nothing to fear for Dons in return clash against Portsmouth

MK Dons have nothing to fear heading to Fratton Park to take on Portsmouth on Saturday, according to defender Warren O‘Hora.

With managerless Dons sat 23rd in the table and without a win in League One since October 25, few are predicting them to head back to Milton Keynes on Saturday night with the points in their pockets, particularly against a Portsmouth side with just one Papa John’s Trophy defeat in that same time span.

But citing Dons’ second-half performance in Hampshire three weeks ago when the sides met in the FA Cup, resulting in a 3-2 Pompey win, O’Hora believes Dons have nothing to lose heading into tomorrow’s game.

“There's nothing to fear going there,” he said. “We know the result wasn't great last time, but it was two penalties which killed us and gave us a mountain to climb.

“We haven't got time to fear anyone. We need to go and get points, it's black and white. We've nothing to lose, all the presure is on Portsmouth. They're at the other end, trying to get in the play-offs and we're at the bottom with nothing to lose.

“We should have confidence going into the game - not many other teams will do what we did at Fratton Park against a strong side like we did.

“I'm confident in the team and think we should go out and try to win the game.”

No extra pressure on Lewie to get a result

Caretaker boss Dean Lewington will be in charge again tomorrow when Dons take on Portsmouth, but he insists there is no more pressure on the side to get points than at any other time.

With Dons toiling in 23rd place, taking on Danny Cowley’s side sat eighth will be a tough one for the 38-year-old, taking charge of the side for only the third time in his career.

But despite their poor league standing, Lewington says the only pressure on Dons is to live up to their own standards.

He said: “We have our standards and expectations of ourselves, and we think we can get a result tomorrow. We’ll go out there and do our best, put it all on the line and do our maximum to get the points.

“We know where we are, every game counts, and we’ll go there focussed. We’re not feeling sorry for ourselves, and we’re going in with that mindset.

“There was lots of good stuff to come out of that game (three weeks ago), as there has been in a lot of our games recently. But we conceded three goals which has been the story really.

“We know against most teams we can cause trouble and problems and we can play some good stuff, but we have to combine it all together to get a result.”