Despite going three games without a win, Dons remain second in the table

After nine months of work, defender Jack Sanders says MK Dons are desperate not to let promotion slip out of their hands at the end.

After a 14-game unbeaten run, and a four-game winning streak came to an end a couple of weeks ago against Barnet, Dons have picked up just one point from a possible nine in the hunt for promotion.

Their wobble - their first since September - though has coincided with similar form from those around them, with Cambridge, Notts County and Bromley all dropping points in the first of the Easter games, somewhat letting Dons off the hook for their 0-0 draw with relegation strugglers Barrow at Stadium MK.

With five games remaining, Sanders said the squad has to get their act together for the remainder of the season to make sure their previous 41 games are not all for nothing.

“We’re at the business end of the season,” he said. “With five games left, we can’t just say ‘it’s one of those days’ because we’ve not got enough days left. We want to be winners in this league, that’s our target and we’re not going to be doing that if that’s the performance we’re putting in.

“We’ve not won in three, and it’s not like we’re not concerned, but we’re at a point where we have to get together and get it going again.

“We’ve been fortunate with results going the way they have but that makes it even more frustrating. The results in the last two weeks leave you thinking any result we could get would put us in a really nice position. You could look at it and see we’re still second, but we’re looking at it like we could be even better off than we are.

“What we’ve done in the last nine months we can’t let slip, we’ve got to get results now.”