Russell Martin pleased with transfer business as MK Dons claim first win

Posted Saturday, October 17, 2020 by PA

Russell Martin toasted a brilliant transfer window for MK Dons after two of his new strikers fired them to their first League One victory of the season with a 2-0 win over Gillingham.

Cameron Jerome scored his first goal in English football since 2018 to put the hosts ahead while on-loan Carlton Morris added a second four minutes into the second half.

That lifted the Dons off the bottom of the table, with Martin fully focussing on the pitch now the window is shut and believes they can go on a run.

“This transfer window has been the longest ever and I think it was outrageous to be honest but I’m happy with the squad I’ve got,” he said.

“We have so much strength in depth now and we look around at the bench and we have real quality, strength and people that we trust. We will need every single one of them.

“Everyone we’ve brought in this transfer window has improved us and some of them suit more of what we are doing so I feel that we have gone about it the right way.

“We need to make sure that this is the start of us going on a run. We have two tough away games coming up at Oxford and Blackpool. We ignore the noise and concentrate on us.

“They only had one shot on target so I’m really pleased with that. The way we defended the box today was really impressive. To a man I thought they were great and they were so brave for playing the way we play.”

Martin’s former Norwich team-mate Jerome took just 20 minutes to find the back of the net, firing low into the corner after some neat build-up play.

And the striker, who is back in England after two years in Turkey, helped set up Morris for the second, with the forward poking a low effort into the corner from inside the box.

Gillingham boss Steve Evans said: “We were second best all over the pitch today for long spells. We knew what to expect and we knew what we were going to come up against in two of their Championship-quality strikers.

“They moved it better than we did and goals always change games, and we missed two easy chances and weren’t awarded a penalty when we should have. Their manager has just acknowledged that.

“We won’t make excuses because we weren’t good enough and we need to get back on the training ground and make changes if we need to.

“But losing a game isn’t fatal it’s about how you come back. They’re a young group and they’ll learn from today and that you don’t always get the decisions you should get.”