Robbie Neilson was pleased to see his MK Dons side come out on top in an ‘entertaining’ affair at Stadium MK.
The men from MK1 beat Rochdale 3-2 in a five-goal thriller on Saturday – a match which saw both teams surrender a lead.
Gboly Ariyibi’s first-half brace cancelled out Brad Inman’s early opener but Dale fought back to level before the break through Matt Done.
The Dons, though, managed to edge ahead late on and secure all three points – Ryan Seager the match-winner for with his second goal of the season.
“It was an entertaining game,” Neilson said in his post-match press conference. “Both sides played well and played some entertaining football.
“People want to come and see entertainment and they saw some good football, good goals and a tight game – they even saw thunder and lightning at times!
“Our aim is to keep clean sheets – we want to be winning games three or four nil and have fans enjoy that – but hopefully the fans enjoyed it and will come down to AFC (Wimbledon) on Friday and back us there.”
On the performance, Neilson said: “I thought for a period in the first half we were very dominant and if we'd have scored another goal (at 2-1) then we would have been comfortable.
“We gave away a cheap (second) goal but Ryan Seager came on at the end and got us the three points.
“We take those points and move on – hopefully we can take the confidence into the huge game on Friday.”
Here are the other talking points from Neilson's post-match press conference...
Gboly Ariyibi’s Man of the Match display...
“He’s definitely got moments in him. He’s still got a lot of work to do out of possession but in possession he certainly has fantastic ability for this level.”
Osman Sow getting a full run-out...
“It was a big ask for Osman. We planned to take him off but (Ed Upson’s) injury flared up a bit and I wanted to go two up front as well to put them under pressure. He'll be stiff but it gives him a good 97 minutes under his belt.
“He will be a top striker in this league. He has fantastic ability and pace but also he's a big lad that can deal with the physicality of it. As he gets fitter and stronger, and as we build that relationship with him, he'll certainly come on.”
Defenders’ response from Tuesday...
“I think they responded well from the other night, which is exactly what I expected them to do because they're too good characters. They matched the physicality of (Scott) Davies and (Jordan) Slew and I was pleased with that side of it. However, the aim of the defence is not to lose goals and we’ve lost two today which I think were avoidable.”
Looking ahead to AFC Wimbledon...
“It's a massive game for us on Friday night and the boys are really looking forward to it, as I’m sure the fans will be as well. Hopefully we take a good allocation, we put on a good performance and we get three points because we know it means so much to everyone at this club.”
