Darragh’s delight at causing Cup upset as Dons beat Watford

“Our season starts now,” said Darragh Burns after MK Dons beat Championship side Watford in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.

The 20-year-old teed up Matt Dennis to fire Dons ahead with his first goal for the club, before getting one himself eight minutes into the second half, picking out the bottom corner to celebrate in front of the travelling supporters.

After Dons made a sluggish start to the season, they have lost only one in five now, have progressed into the third round of the Carabao Cup and have points on the board in League One.

Burns echoed boss Liam Manning’s comments afterwards, saying the win at Vicarage Road needs to be the launching pad for Dons’ season.

“We needed a win just for ourselves,” he said. “Coming to Watford isn't easy, but a 2-0 win is what we needed. There's a lot of games coming up - Carabao Cup, Papa John's Trophy, FA Cup, League One. They come thick and fast. We'll just keep going. This is what we want to be doing.

“It was a good night. Coming here and winning 2-0 was never going to be easy, but we came here to cause an upset and we're all delighted to have done it. It's a quick turnaround though, and we're already onto Saturday.

“We knew we'd have to work hard, you don't get anything here for nothing. We all had to put in a shift and we battled for 90 minutes, and that's why we got the result.

“It was down to the workrate. We've had some mixed results, and I hope tonight has got us up and running.”

Not only was it an important night for Dons, but for Burns too. The youngster, still fresh from his move away from his native Ireland in the summer, was being cheered on by family and friends in the Watford away end, who saw the winger put in a man-of-the-match performance.

“A goal and an assist is a good night's work,” he continued. “But we can't get too carried away! It's a big well done to the lads. Dawson passed me the ball, another Irish lad got an assist which was great too!

“And I had my mum, and my little sister and a few mates in the crowd as well so it was a special night for me.”