Dons are going in the right direction despite Doncaster defeat

After their nine-match unbeaten run came to an end on New Year's Day, Joe Tomlinson said MK Dons have a firm understanding of where they can finish in League Two this season.

Yesterday's defeat to Doncaster Rovers was only their second league defeat since head coach Mike Williamson took over in late October - the other being his first game, three days after his appointment - and has seen them climb from as low as 19th to as high as sixth in the table.

Though the nature of the 3-0 loss to Doncaster was a disappointing one, Tomlinson said given where Dons were when their run began, the positives outweigh the negatives at the moment.

"It's not the end of the world, we've been on a good run," he said. "We know how good we are and how good we can be, and where we can finish. We'll learn from this, and show what we can do in the next game.

"We're still a work in progress, even on this run. We're not perfect, we've got a lot to sort out. We'll correct the errors, keep improving and learning. It'll be nice to get on the training pitch and work on a few things."

Coming out of the Christmas run of games, where they played four games in nine days, Dons picked up nine points from a possible 12 - a haul Williamson is pleased with.

He said: "I think you would take it, it's a really good return. We're just disappointed with the manner we played (at Doncaster). We felt we could come here and continue where we left off but that first half put the game out of our reach."