Karl Robinson was full of praise for his side after they battled to a 2-0 victory away at Colchester United on Tuesday evening.
Daniel Powell’s first-half strike coupled with a cool finish from Patrick Bamford 12 minutes from time, saw the Dons pick up a valuable three points at Weston Homes Community Stadium, a result which keeps them within reach of the play-off places.
And Robinson was understandably delighted with his team after they climbed into seventh in League 1, just one place below the top-six.
Speaking after the game, Robinson said: “I thought that was a very good away performance from us today.
“It was a bit like the MK Dons of four or five years ago as we sat a little bit deeper than usual, especially in the first half. I thought we rode our luck for 20 minutes in that first half because they absolutely battered us and fortunately the ball stayed out of our net, both through luck and some good saves from Ian, who was exceptional tonight.
“But, in the second half I thought we were in control and we were able to just sit back and hit them on the counter attack, which we could afford to do with the strength we had up top.
“All in all I thought the players put a gritty performance in andthey threw their bodies in the way of everything. We’re getting to a stage in the season where the pitches aren’t the best and therefore it’s difficult for us to play our usual style of football.
“When we needed the players to roll up their sleeves they did so and we deservedly came out on top.”
Tonight’s result means the Dons go into this weekend’s fixture with Scunthorpe United just four points adrift of the play-offs with two games left to go.
Although the men from MK1 need to rely on results elsewhere as they look extend their season, they are still right in the mix and in a position Robinson admits he would have taken after the 2-1 defeat to Crewe Alexandra back in March.
“I would have taken the position we’re in after that defeat to Crewe, considering the season we’ve had, with all the injuries.
“We’re still in the mix with two games to go and if Swindon don’t get a win on Saturday and we get a result then we’ll take it to the last day and that’s a tremendous testament to us.
“We’re seventh in the League, we got to the fifth round of the FA Cup, so it’s been a good season for us, whatever happens from now.
“Obviously we set our stall out to get promoted at the beginning of the season but we did that in hope of having our strongest players fit for the majority of the year and that’s just not been the case.
on Saturday and we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed results go our way elsewhere. It’s important, though, that we put in a performance for the home crowd in what is our last home League game of the season and then, if we do win, it might end up not being our last home game there so we’ll see.”mkstadium“Hopefully we’ll have a decent crowd at
