Town boss Mick McCarthy believes MK Dons’ boss Karl Robinson’s warning to his players that they’re playing for their futures at the club will have given them additional motivation ahead of today’s game against the Blues.
After describing last week’s 2-0 defeat at Brentford as the "worst performance of the season by a long way”, Robinson added: "Maybe they're lucky because if this was in January it may be different.
"They've got three weeks to fight for their place to stay not just in the team, but at the club."
McCarthy doesn’t believe Robinson's job will be under any pressure despite his side’s current position fifth from bottom following their promotion in May and says the former non-league centre forward will have been looking for a reaction from his players with those comments.
"I don’t think Pete Winkleman’s like that at all. He’ll be delighted with what Karl has done over his time there and continuing to build the club,” McCarthy said.
"I know I saw Karl had a bit of a rallying call, that the players were playing for their futures over the next few weeks. That’ll be an extra motivational bit for them when we play them, won’t it?
"But that’s the kind of thing you have to do as a manager. You can’t just keep ticking along if results are going well and performances aren’t going well, you’ve got to jolt them into action in some way. Let’s hope it’s not this week they’re jolting into action.”
McCarthy says having a settled club - Robinson took charge in May 2010 - has been one of the reasons behind MK's success since their foundation in 2004.
"I would imagine it’s because they’ve got a good manager, coach, good players, a good way of playing,” McCarthy added.
"They’ve done well in the league, they’ve had a bit of stability, they’ve kept going the same way, doing the same things which have gradually built them up and they’re still doing it now and they’re still a capable team.”