Getting Dons promoted was Tisdale's 'best year' as a manager

Getting MK Dons promoted at the first time of asking after two consecutive play-off final defeats was a huge weight off Paul Tisdale's shoulders, and a culmination of his best year as a football manager.

In his 19th campaign as a manager, Tisdale had to turn Dons around after two relegations in three seasons, as well as overcoming his own disappointments having lost in two consecutive play-off finals with Exeter City.

After an up-and-down campaign, Dons went into the final game of the season knowing it was winner-takes-all against Mansfield - the winner would go up automatically, while the loser would have to run the gauntlet of the play-offs.

David Wheeler's early header saw Dons take the lead and hold on to claim promotion to League One at the first time of asking - Tisdale's first promotion in 10 years.

Speaking to the EFL Podcast, he said: "The people who know me would say that was my best year, in terms of putting together all the things I'd learned and believed in and making it work very quickly."

After losing a week earlier against Colchester, Dons slipped behind Mansfield into fourth place in the standings heading to the final day, with a not good enough for Dons to claim the final automatic promotion spot.

Despite the magnitude of the game though, Tisdale said he did not feel the pressure of the occasion until a few weeks later.

"It was not for a couple of weeks that I could actually enjoy it," he continued. "It wasn't until afterwards. There was the mayhem, the people on the pitch. I think I was ashen-faced, I wasn't jumping around. I came into the tunnel afterwards, and I was just shaking hands with the opposition because I felt so sorry for them. I know how that felt. Going into the dressing room, the team was jumping around, I was just sat in the corner, I could almost cry. Every day, I was consumed by that end result. I just thought 'thank god for that!'

"Looking back on it, the game seems a lot more pressurised after the event. You're so used to going through the process before a game, you're in autopilot. My schedule was no different that week.

"In hindsight, looking at what happened to Bury and how they conducted their business, it seemed incredibly harsh on Mansfield to lose out in that manner. It was a big game, and we kept thinking 'surely it won't come down to this' and of course it did."