Nice when the goals go in – Ian Watson hails ruthless MK Dons

Posted Wednesday, January 24, 2024 by PA

MK Dons assistant head coach Ian Watson was delighted with the ruthless start his team made in their 3-1 victory over rivals AFC Wimbledon.

The Dons were made to rue missed chances in the first half of their defeat at home to Morecambe last Saturday, but there was no repeat as they surged into a 3-0 lead after 22 minutes.

They were then helped along by red cards to Wimbledon defenders Huseyin Biler and Paul Kalambayi in the second half as they moved up to sixth in League Two.

Watson, who took charge with head coach Mike Williamson absent due to a family bereavement, said: “It’s really nice when the goals go in.

“We said when we spoke previously about the performance being the most important thing but obviously everybody wants to win football matches, that’s why we do it.

“When we take the opportunities and the ball hits the back of the net, it’s such a good feeling and it really gave us that momentum from the first half.

“Then it was just about managing the game as best we possibly could and I thought the boys did that extremely well.

“We could have been a little bit cleaner with the ball at times but on a tough night with tough weather in a derby, I’m not going to complain.

“There were chances that we could have taken but the performance was really, really good and we’ll just keep focusing on the performance.”

Joe Tomlinson’s ball across goal allowed Dan Kemp to open the scoring for MK Dons, who were gifted a second by Ryan Johnson’s bizarre own goal before Warren O’Hora headed in their third.

Armani Little made the most of some careless play to pull one back for Wimbledon, but they finished with nine men following Biler and Kalambayi’s red cards.

Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson said: “Their first attack, they score, and we don’t defend it well enough at all and it gives them an impetus in the game.

“After that I thought we were way off it in that first half, unacceptable. We conceded another goal, we conceded from a set-play and it was just not recognisable from the team we’ve been so far this season.

“That bit’s hard to take because in the second half we did look like us, but we were way off it in that first period.

“I thought the first one is probably a red card but it’s no different to O’Hora at the end of the first half on [Josh] Davison, it was exactly the same.

“The second one, I don’t think there’s much contact from PK [on Max Dean], I thought that was harsh – if anything I think he’s tangled his own legs.”