"A great day at the office": Tripp on Dons' win over Walsall

MK Dons responded to Monday’s defeat at Salford City in the best way with victory over Walsall five days later, according to Callum Tripp.

The 18-year-old, making only his second league start, put in a man of the match winning performance against the Saddlers as Callum Hendry’s 18th minute goal won the game for the hosts at Stadium MK.

While it was not an all-conquering performance, it was enough to see Dons over the line for their second win of the season, lifting them to 14th in League Two ahead of the derby clash against AFC Wimbledon next Saturday.

Tripp, who played as both the right and left sided centre-back during the win over Walsall, said the side were eager to put their disappointing show against the Ammies behind them and felt Dons ticked all the right boxes.

“It's a great day at the office,” he said. “Monday of course was not what we wanted but we showed a great mentality to bounce back and get a clean sheet, and a 1-0 win is just what we needed.

“They had some massive strikers at the end, but we dealt with them really well. The clean sheet is what you want as a defence.

“Hopefully we have a run of games now. We've got AFC Wimbledon next week which of course is a massive game, we want three points there, but we have to reflect on how we've started the season and get better.”

Though it ended with defeat, Tripp’s league debut came in the defeat at Salford, but keeping his place in the absence of injured Sam Sherring, the teenager said he cannot relax and get comfortable in his role, and had already began looking to next week and vying for a spot against Dons’ biggest rivals.

He said: “I'm buzzing with my league debut, and I've got to keep pushing now. I'm happy with the points too, but the game is done, I'm already looking at training this week and how we can get the points next week too.”

The youngster’s performances in the last two games also drew praise from head coach Mike Williamson, who said: “He takes it all in his stride. He's unfortunate not to play more minutes. His last two performances have shown a real maturity, and there's so much room to improve and be better.

“As a centre-half, a lot of that is concentration. The communication, the concentration, the pure diligence to keep doing the simple things will come.”