Sweeting expects a more competitive MK Dons when they next face AFC Wimbledon

After losing three games in a row to their biggest rivals, sporting director Liam Sweeting believes MK Dons will go into the next game against AFC Wimbledon with a different mindset.

Not only have the results gone against them, but the performances in each of the three defeats have been well below par too. The back-to-back losses at Plough Lane, coming on Mike Williamson’s watch, bordered on pitiful while he FA Cup defeat at the start of the month, led by Scott Lindsey, was not much better as they lost the home fixture for the first time in a decade.

After AFC Wimbledon’s 2-0 win over Tranmere Rovers on Tuesday night, the sides are separated by just a point in the League Two table with both sides now level on 16 games played. While the second league fixture between the sides is not for another two months yet, Sweeting said the mentality in Dons’ approach to the game must be different for the final clash between the sides of the season.

“The run we've been on, of course we're not happy about,” he said. “I'm never happy not winning that game. When it rolls around, I'm sure there will be a focus again.

“There have been different approaches to that fixture. It's not like we've tried the same thing each time, but it's not something we talk about day-to-day either. When you are trying to develop a performance, building the physical conditions, they are the day-to-day things, the things you have to prepare for anything.

“We hope this run of form we’re on continues. Scott has said he won't be happy if we lose another game - that's where his mentality is, he's thinking that aggressively.

“By the time that that game rolls around again, I firmly believe our players will be up for it, will be aware of everything that goes along with it and I expect us to be competitive.

“It's the last time we'll play them this season, it will be at Stadium MK and it will be an important game.”