Mike Williamson feels MK Dons ‘got their reward’ against Carlisle

Posted Sunday, August 25, 2024 by PA

Mike Williamson praised his MK Dons side as they picked up their first win of the season by beating Carlisle 3-0.

Goals from Callum Hendry, Alex Gilbey and Joe Tomlinson won the day for the home side.

Aaron Nemane created the first two in the first half and a late third came in second-half stoppage time when Tomlinson’s strike from Tommy Leigh’s pass found the bottom corner.

Williamson said: “I’m just really pleased for the boys. I know we talk about making sure we focus on the controllables and don’t listen to the noise and things like that, and I’m as pleased for the boys as the fans as well.

“We got our rewards today which is something we didn’t feel we had in the first two games. We’ve just got to keep to what we’re doing and how we can affect games.

“We lose a bit of concentration in periods and they got on top in patches, but I thought everyone was brilliant to a man, the subs came on and impacted it as well and it was a real squad performance.

“We’ve got to keep pushing the standards and we know a moment’s lapse of concentration can change the momentum and feel of the game. It takes so much detail and timings and there’s a lot to go with it and we’ve got to make sure we’re dragging it out of each other. The goals look simple but a lot goes into that on the training ground.”

Carlisle head coach Paul Simpson was disappointed with his side’s failure to follow up victory over Barrow with a comparable display.

He said: “A very, very disappointing afternoon for us. First two goals were virtually identical goals that we’ve given away.

“Their first goal is probably their first attack and first time they’ve got into the final third around the 18-yard area, and we had opportunities before that including one straight from kick-off.

“You have to find those moments and make them count, and we haven’t, and we get done. Second half, we had moments where we should have produced better quality than we did and we don’t make that count.

“We just haven’t done enough. We haven’t passed the ball well or done the basics as well as we are capable of.

“You can’t have a gulf between what we had last week and today if you want to achieve anything, and that’s the major disappointment. There’s nothing more we can do about it – we’ll just have to get on the coach, get home and hope it can be better next week.”