Dan Micciche’s first Sky Bet League One game in charge of Milton Keynes Dons ended in defeat after Julien Ngoy’s second-half goal gave Walsall all three points.
Despite Saturday's loss to Walsall at the Banks's Stadium, Dan Micciche believes his side are getting closer to where they want to be.
“If we keep persevering with the style and working hard every day, it will turn for us,” the manager said in his post-match interview.
“I believe in the players - we’ve improved in our first two games and I feel we limited Walsall. Elliott Ward had a good debut and the whole back four was good, which is pleasing.
“We got to half-time with a clean sheet which was a target, and we’ve tried to build a performance from being solid at the back.”
Although the Dons currently occupy a relegation spot in the Sky Bet League One, Micciche is remaining calm about the future and believes things will turn.
“There is no point in panicking and turning to Plan B or C - we are trying to bring a new identity in.
"We should be higher up but we have to start turning this optimism into results - I think we’re getting there."
He added: “Josh Tymon looked lively when he came on, Elliott will make us more solid and we’ve still got Ethan [Ethan Ebanks-Landell], Chuks [Aneke] , Aidan [Nesbitt], Peter [Pawlett] and Giorgio [Rasulo] to come in too.
“It’s a tough league, we know that, but if we didn’t have the ability in the dressing room then I’d say it was tougher.
"We’ve got winnable games coming up – we have to stay positive and it will turn.”
Here’s what else Micciche covered in his post-match interview…
On the game…
“I feel we deserved something from the game. In the first 20 minutes, we created our own problems. That wasn't us, wasn't our identity and we addressed that at half-time. In the second half, we created an overload in midfield with a four vs three and gained some momentum and looked more like us. We needed to score in that period but unfortunately, we didn't. We knew it would be a tight game, and the first goal was always going to be key.”
On Robbie Muirhead…
“We know Robbie can make an impact. He's got a good shot on him and he showed that today. If we can get him into the pocket on the half turn - he has some end product.”
On Osman Sow's injury…
“We're just waiting to hear about Osman but we took him off as a precaution.”
