Karl Robinson heaped praise on his MK Dons players after they returned to winning ways with a superb 3-0 victory over Walsall on Saturday afternoon.
Robinson’s side had lost each of their last three games heading into today’s clash at Banks’s Stadium but two goals either side of a Ben Reeves penalty from striker Izale McLeod saw the men from MK1 bounce back in emphatic style.
The result sees the Dons climb into ninth place in Sky Bet League 1 and manager Robinson, who thanked the supporters for sticking with him and the team during the recent bad patch, was understandably delighted at the final whistle.
Speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio, the 33-year-old said: “I thought the players deserve a lot of credit today because they’ve been subject to an awful lot of criticism recently but they’ve come here today and steamrolled the game.
“It was a good performance. I was in quite a positive mood before the game because the lads have worked hard all week and if we’d have been three-nil up at the end of that first half I don’t think anybody would have any complaints.
“We played some wonderful football in the first half and the way the players conducted themselves in the latter part of the game was a testament to them as a group of people. Our shape second half, too, was very good and we limited them to very little chances even with the weather. We deserved the win.
“It’s important we don’t get too carried away and it’s important we build on this, we can’t just stand still. We’re not writing the season off because if we keep doing well we might just nick a place in that top six.”
In a game which had it all – penalties scored, penalties missed and red cards – McLeod, will still, undeniably, walk away with all the headlines after playing a crucial role in all three of the Dons’ goals in his first start since November.
And manager Robinson was keen to reserve a special mention for his striker, who took his Dons tally up to 67 with the brace this afternoon. He added: “(Izale) did wonderfully well. The man of the match decision is quite easy.
“I spoke to Izale before the game and told him that I didn’t want to see his Case Security sign, I wanted to see the number 13; I wanted him to let Reevesy be the man to link and he did that.
“Izale’s missed out all season because Patrick was in unbelievable form and because I don’t believe he's trained right. He’s a good man, Izale, but he needs to work hard in training to get into the team because when you’re not playing that’s where you can do most of your damage.
“The way he’s trained this week has been remarkable, he’s been like he was today all week. When you play you have to take your chance and he certainly did that today.”
