MK DONS’ head of coaching Richie Barker sees a lot of similarities between Swindon Town and his own club.

Barker has been preparing the Dons for the game on training ground and has steeled his players for a tough encounter with Mark Cooper’s ball-playing Robins.

The former Crawley and Portsmouth boss is now Karl Robinson’s number two at Stadium: MK, joining the fold last April.

"They (Swindon) play attractive football in the right way,” said Barker. “They've got a good model with young athletic players, like we do.

"Certainly, it will be a tough game with good players all over the pitch.

"So one thing it will be on Saturday is a good match. The ball will move about quickly.

"They've done extremely well, but a few weeks ago, they hadn't won in three.”

Dons and Swindon are both in the shake-up at the top of League One, where so far only Bristol City and, latterly, Preston have stamped their authority on the division. Barker feels the league is an open one and knows taking points from games such as Saturday’s could be key come May.

"This is the most level League One has been in a long time,” he added.

”We've had Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield, Charlton, Leeds, Norwich and Southampton.

"You only have to look at the table and see how tight it is. But the gaps are starting to appear, there are very few teams that are getting big wins.

"We said from the very start that it could go down to the odd point or even goal difference so the little things could make the difference."