Warne solidifies MK Dons’ promising journey ahead

Boss Paul Warne has said he will not rush Callum Paterson and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing back before they are 100% fit as MK Dons chase automatic promotion from League Two. Top scorer Paterson has 14 goals this season but an ankle injury has kept him out since the 1-0 win against Newport County in mid-February. Mendez-Laing, meanwhile, has not played for three months following an operation on his hamstring but MK Dons are on a 13-game unbeaten league run in his absence.

"They are close (but) I don't have to rush them back," Warne told BBC Three Counties Radio. "They need to come back and be healthy because I need them for the run-in, but I need them for next season as well. " Warne's side are second in the table with nine games remaining - the first of those at home to Colchester on Wednesday - and have a seven-point advantage over Notts County in fourth place.

"You look at the league table and you think there's a seven-point gap between us and fourth, and with our goal difference you could argue it's eight - I know teams have games in hand but I'd always rather have the points in the top pocket," he said. MK Dons beat one of their promotion rivals on Saturday, winning 2-1 at Swindon, and Warne hopes doing the double over Ian Holloway's Robins will stand them in good stead should both end up in the play-offs. He added: "There's always that little bit in the back of my head - which I don't want to consider, but I do when the demons arrive in the middle of the night - that if we do play these in the play-offs, psychologically we beat them home and away and sometimes things come down to the smallest psychological thought.

"If we did, unfortunately or fortunately, however you look at it, drop into the play-offs and we were to play them, it feels like we've had the better of them - without sounding arrogant - and it's a double boost. "