Experienced Dons duo had to raise spirits after Ipswich defeat

After suffering the biggest defeat of the season on Saturday away at Ipswich Town, Bradley Johnson said he and captain Dean Lewington had to raise the spirits of many of the MK Dons players ahead of the game against Port Vale on Tuesday night.

The 3-0 thumping at Portman Road was the joint-biggest defeat of Liam Manning’s year-long reign in charge at Stadium MK and was comfortably the low point of the new season so far.

Returning to training on Monday, experienced midfielder Johnson, who has more than 620 games under his belt, admitted dropping to the bottom of League One had dented the confidence of some of his young team-mates and he felt it was up to him and the captain to restore it.

And Johnson led by example on Tuesday night by netting both goals in a 2-1 win over Port Vale at Stadium MK to get Dons off the bottom and put their first points on the board.

“Me and Skip could see the lads were down on confidence, but you can put it right in a short space of time in this league,” he said. “We've got a lot of games coming up. We came in on Monday, and it was up to us to lift everyone. We said we know we can all get better.

“It's a long season, and we're only four games in. We've played some top teams. Performance-wise, the first half against Cambridge wasn't good enough, we were good against Sheffield Wednesday but we let everyone down on Saturday. We wanted to put it right, and we did it.”

Johnson’s efforts against Vale earned him the Man of the Match trophy afterwards, and he said his showing helped lift the rest of the team around him.

He added: “It's always good to be noted for your performance, but I'm a team player. If I lead out there and put a performance in, it galvanises everyone and puts us on the front foot. And being a big voice on thefield and in the dressing room, I felt I did that.

“Once we got the first goal, you sensed the confidence raised.”