Head coach of MK Dons Mike Williamson responded to his team’s 3-1 victory over Salford City
Despite trailing 3-1 to Salford City on Saturday, Mike Williamson was prepared to read his MK Dons team the riot act at halftime.
At the halftime break, the players were “digging each other out” for their lacklustre performance in the first forty-five minutes, beating the head coach to the punch.
Dons were behind after just 12 minutes as Matt Smith scored the first goal from a tight angle to give former manager Karl Robinson’s team the lead, following up their spectacular display against League Two leaders Mansfield Town earlier in the week.
However, goals from Kyran Lofthouse, Alex Gilbey’s stunning strike, and Emre Tezgel’s first goal of the game—which might also be considered an own goal by Smith—put the Dons ahead 3-1 at halftime.
Williamson admitted, “At halftime, I was really angry.” “However, the boys disarmed that at halftime, digging each other out out of rage. They were aware.
We can’t let that happen, even if I’m not sure if we were exhausted. However, the score at the half was 3-1, which I believe highlights our ability when we execute well.
“Salford came in to play man-to-man; if we were successful, we would win the match, but if not, we would have been exposed. We had to acknowledge that, at times, our quality needed to be spot on. Salford had the first twenty minutes to control everything loose.
“But we dealt with a lot of balls into the box, the defence stayed accountable, and we managed to get it over the line.”
With nine games remaining, the victory—coupled with Crewe Alexandra’s loss to Doncaster Rovers—moves Dons up to fourth place.
Williamson went on, “Anyone can beat anybody on their day, and the play-offs and the top three aren’t decided.” When you are at the top of the league, you cannot quit it. It’s game over when you take a day off because you lose ground.”
