Ian Holloway said that Swindon Town have no reason to be scared of facing an in-form Milton Keynes Dons side on the road this weekend.

Having started life at The Nigel Eady County Ground with back-to-back comeback 2-1 wins to progress in the FA Cup and Bristol Street Motors Trophy, Holloway now gets his first taste of League Two football with Swindon against MK Dons.

Scott Lindsey’s side have improved since he succeeded Mike Williamson and moved up towards the playoff places whilst Town remain thoroughly in the mire at the bottom of League Two and in need of some results to push away from danger.

Despite facing a side nine points and 14 places better off so far this season, Holloway said that there is no reason for Swindon to be daunted by their trip to Buckinghamshire.

He said: “Let’s see if I can get some sort of shape that disrupts who we are playing so badly that we can win the ball back, we grow in confidence, and then we imprint our game on them.

“That is a big ask but can we do that? That is what I will be challenging my lads to do.

“We have got MK Dons who just lost a cup game, we won ours, so what are we scared of?

“The practice without the ball will be vital and we have to be careful where we are going as it is all different.

“It is all about the ball, what is happening to it, have we got pressure on it, where is it going, and when it goes there then I expect you to leave your man and Bang!

“That is when we are a good team. We are nowhere near a good team yet, absolutely nowhere near it but I believe that we have shown signs that we can be and that is a big difference.”

Holloway did add that after just two weeks with the players, there was still a lot more than he had to teach his squad about what he wanted them to do to make them the team he wants to build.

He said: “It is all about the league now, hopefully we can take the confidence that we have built and start to move forward.

“Now I can focus on what we are doing without the ball, as you could see in the first half the other day we didn’t know what to do and then we were able to give them some information to help isolate them into a certain area where we could win it back.

“I have got to put another layer on top without the ball: Where are we? What do we do?

“We will need that, especially this weekend because they have a unique shape, so we will be working to know their passing lanes so we can win it back and hurt them.

“I am in a much better place now than I was seven days ago, so well done to the lads and crack on.”