Gaffer praises team’s character despite defeat at Stadium:mk
Graham Turner was pleased that his side dug in and never gave up despite being narrowly defeated 3-2 at MK Dons.
Town were one down early on but Ryan Woods struck his first senior goal to level matters just seven minutes in. The Dons retook the lead before the break and added a third in the second half, but Joe Jacobson scored late on to set up a tense finale but it wasn’t to be.
“I thought we showed a lot of character, particularly in the second half,” said Turner.
“It was a disastrous start to concede a goal as quickly as we did. We found ourselves a way back into the game and then in the second half I thought we had a really good go. Before they got the third one I thought we were having a spell where we were right on top and looking most likely to score.
“We kept going even when we went 3-1 down, credit to the players we worked hard at that stage to get back in at 3-2 and had a couple of half chances to have equalised. You can’t fault the attitude of the players in that respect.”
GT lost Aaron Wildig, Connor Goldson and Dave McAllister during the game through injury – and the manager hopes his players make a speedy recovery.
“It’s a quad injury with Aaron Wildig, it looks as though he’s torn a few fibres so he couldn’t carry on. Connor looks like he’s had his nose broken, it was a tough challenge and he was caught by a head or an elbow. Dave McAllister suffered some concussion down in the corner and we just hope that he’s ok for next weekend.
“It’s a big blow to lose Aaron and Luke in there – we’re short in midfield now. Both of them did well before their injuries so it’s a disappointing one.”
Working furiously hard in the transfer market, GT insisted that he is doing his upmost to bring players in and confirmed that he would be backed financially should the right young player become available.
“I’m not sure how much harder we can work but what we need is a break now. It’s that difficulty where you think you’re down the line with one and suddenly something comes up and it’s almost like a domino effect. If other clubs get what they want, then their players become available.
“We’re after several players, but we’re just waiting for their parent club to bring their players in. The ideal scenario is to bring one or two players in permanently but you have to use the loan market at this level and there are some decent young players about, we’ve just got to get them into our club.”
“If the right player is available I’ve no doubt the Chairman will make an investment. The profile would be for somebody who’s going to come into the Club and improve as well as helping us in the current situation.”