Dave Challinor: Stockport County v MK Dons a game 'both teams have to win'

Stockport were held to a 1-1 draw at Crawley despite Antoni Sarcevic's goal

Stockport County manager Dave Challinor says Saturday's match at home to MK Dons (17:15 GMT) has now become a game that both promotion rivals must win.

Monday's 1-1 draw at Crawley means Stockport have won only one of their past seven games in League Two.

Defeat by the fourth-placed Dons could see the Hatters drop out of the automatic promotion spots for the first time since October.

"The way it has turned out, both teams have to win," said Challinor.

"Probably if we had won the game (at Crawley), we maybe don't have to lose, whereas they would have to win."

The point at Crawley kept Stockport second, one ahead of both Wrexham and MK Dons.

The Hatters' form has dipped since their record-equalling 12-match winning streak in the autumn, with only six wins from 19 games since that sequence ended, but Challinor is encouraging his players to "embrace" the opportunity they have to get promotion.

"I wouldn't swap the situation we are in," he told BBC Radio Manchester. "I don't think you enjoy it, but you've got to embrace it and go out there and perform.

"That's been my disappointment in the past two away games. In the two first halves, we've not performed and we've gone away from what we do well.

"We have to do it over 90 minutes and no more so than Saturday."