Nathaniel Mendez-Laing explained how experienced heads will prevail during the run-in

There has been a call for an air of calm in the MK Dons dressing room from the senior heads in the squad heading into the final three games of the season.

Knowing their promotion fate remains in their hands heading into the final two weeks of the campaign, the more vocal character at MK1 have been urging everyone to keep level-headed and not to get too carried away with what could happen over the next 15 days.

There are plenty of promotion winners in Paul Warne’s squad, not least Nathaniel Mendez-Laing who has three under his belt with Peterborough (when they beat Dons in the play-off semi-finals in 2011), Cardiff City and Derby County, where he played under Paul Warne.

The 34-year-old, having celebrated his birthday on Wednesday, said there have been plenty of voices in the dressing room over the last few weeks calling for calm and composure as the season reaches it’s culmination.

He said: “We’ve got many experienced lads in the dressing room who have been through similar situations, and we all try to pass on that knowledge to others at this point in the season. It’s the small details that matter, and we’ve got to stay relaxed and composed, taking every game as it comes.

“I’ve been promoted with Nels, once with Pato, with Kane. We’ve got Gilbs, Wilsey too, we’ve got a lot of players who have been in this situation before.

“We can’t get too carried away or get too down. We had a run of four games without a win and there was a lot of outside noise, asking whether MK are panicking, and one win has changed all that. We have to keep level headed, train well and do all the right things.”

Taking on Crewe Alexandra this weekend, who need to win all three of their remaining games this season to be in with a chance of a play-off spot, Guatemalan Mendez-Laing said their approach to the game could favour the way Dons play and potentially set up the clash nicely.

“They’ve got to win all three to make the play-offs,” he said. “That’s probably a good thing for us because they’ll have to come at us and we’re very good on transition and counter-attacks. I think it will suit us.

“It will be tough, all games are, we’ll have to roll our sleeves up and hopefully our quality will shine through.”