MK Dons head coach Paul Warne spoke ahead of his side’s first home game in nearly four months

The visit of Huddersfield Town will provide a sterner League One test than MK Dons experienced against Oxford United, according to Paul Warne.

The Terriers were comfortable 3-0 winners on opening day against AFC Wimbledon, despite playing for the majority of the game with just ten men.

Dons opened their campaign against the U’s who had just come down from the Championship, and were denied an opening day win thanks to a 95th minute Cieran Brown equaliser at the Kassam Stadium.

A Premier League team seven years ago, Town are starting their third season in a row back in League One, keen to get back Championship where they spent five seasons after beating Dons in the play-offs back in 2012. While both sides have had significantly different fates since, they meet for the first time in ten years on Saturday at Stadium MK.

Just one game into the new season, Warne admitted it is far too early to draw any conclusions about Martin Drury’s side, but said he anticipates a harder game than his side faced against Oxford.

“It’s hard to know at this point, they could go on to lose nine in a row, just as we could. Who knows! Realistically, with a bit of common sense and what we do know, they’re a good team, they’re always going to be there or thereabouts. I think they underachieved for what they had last season in their own opinions.

“I think it will be a bigger test than last week. Watching them play, they played like a 5-2-3, with pace for days in the front line. They’ve got some players in the squad who have earned their stripes, played a lot of games at this level and know what to do.

“They’ve made some good signings on the pitch and off it. I know Dale Tonge (first team coach) really well, and I know Alan Knill really well (assistant head coach). They’ve got a really good structure to their coaching.

“It’s the manager’s first gig but he has coached for years and he’s very experienced at higher levels.”

Dons play their first home game in 119 days on Saturday, the last being the promotion winning triumph over Tranmere at the end of April.

While in League Two Stadium MK felt like the focal point for many visiting sides, Warne said the ground will not hold as much of an awe-factor this term, but he still wants his players to make it a place teams do not want to play.

He said: “I don’t think it has the same ‘wow factor’ in League One, because there are a lot of nice placed to play. I don’t think it will hold the same excitement for a lot of teams. Huddersfield play in a great stadium on a great pitch.

“But this is still our stadium, and we have to give our fans something to get behind. We have to start well, in the ascendency, on the front foot and try to go after teams.

“To play at home, which hopefully we can turn into a fortress and be hard to play against, is nice for us. We’ve been on the road all the way through pre-season so it will be nice for some of the fans to see all the new players for the first time.”