First win was a long time coming for Dons

It took them until their sixth game in League One, but David Kasumu said MK Dons' first win of the season was a long time coming.

After disappointing defeats against Lincoln and Portsmouth this season, goals from Cameron Jerome and Carlton Morris were enough to see off Gillingham 2-0 at Stadium MK, lifting Russell Martin's side to 19th in the table.

But after sitting bottom for two weeks, Kasumu said their first win was due a while ago.

"It has been a long time coming," he said. "The performances in the last few weeks have warranted the win, so to finally get it it is what we've been looking for, and I hope we can kick on from here.

"We've been playing good football, except at Crewe, so it was easy to keep the faith – we knew the first win was coming. We knew we had to score first and be hard to score against, and we showed that today.

"We all knew what we had to do, we couldn't concede early again and to think 'clean sheet first' and then to get the goal in the first half allowed us to kick on in the second. We went 2-0 up and the game was basically done and from there, we were in total control. It was what we deserved."

Kasumu was awarded the man of the match award by the sponsors for his showing in the centre of the park as he sat in front of the back three to coordinate play, feeding the likes of Scott Fraser and Louis Thompson in front. And the 21-year-old said he was pleased with his performance in midfield, helping at both ends of the pitch.

He said: "I thought I played well in the first half. They pressed high so it was difficult at the start, but space freed up in the second half. I was breaking up play and passing it up to Louis and Scott who were looking for that final pass. It was really working well between us, and me and the back three snuffed out the danger with their strikers. I felt I did my job at both ends of the pitch.

"At half time, we knew Gillingham would come out full on, so to get that goal made their momentum drop. The game became a lot easier for us to control after that."