Defeat to Newport County was a reality check for over-confident MK Dons

While MK Dons’ bold messages over the last few months have been a tool to lift the club out of the doldrums of the start of the season, Scott Lindsey feel it acted against him in Saturday’s emphatic defeat to Newport County.

Having boldly proclaimed Dons were the ‘biggest team in the division’ a few months ago, the head coach felt his side were too arrogant ahead of the game at Rodney Parade, and found out to their detriment, at 4-0 down in 36 minutes, the perils of underestimating their opponents.

Skipper Alex Gilbey admitted after the game that Dons felt their reputation was enough to help them through the game, only to end up on the end of a 6-3 hiding to the Exiles, and the head coach admitted that over-confidence played a part.

“I think we think we're better than we are at times,” Lindsey said. “We need to rein that in, and that's my job. I think we have to respect opposition more.

“We have to do the fundamentals right, and we didn't. Nothing comes easy in any industry, let alone in football. Sometimes, even when you work for it, you don't get what you deserve. And we didn't do that well enough on Saturday.”

He continued: “We had a meeting this morning (Monday), and I've shown a lot of honesty. I didn't have to raise my voice, and I think we'll be better for it. It was an honest reflection on the game, and how we fell short. It's clear to me. We're didn't work hard enough it's very simple.

“We can talk formations, tactics, but if you're not willing to work for the shirt, to have that want, will, desire and determination to win a game, you'll never win one. We had some really honest talks today, but they needed to be had.”

Midfielder Joe White, who netted Dons’ second to set up what could have been an unlikely comeback scenario with 19 minutes to go, said the squad do go into games believing they should win, but they cannot afford to let their foot off the gas in the manner in which they did in Wales.

He said: “I feel like, with the squad we have, we are super confident in how good we can be, and how good we've been in games at certain times. Against teams so-called lower placed teams, we could be labelled as that, but it's on the players not to never let it happen again. We can't have that label, we have to want it more.

“To a man it was unacceptable, we can't and won't do it again. In the last seven games, we won the six and were really unlucky to lose the seventh. I don't know what it was or where it come from, but we have to put it behind us, but to learn from it and know it won't happen again.”