The midfielder opened his scoring account for MK Dons in the win over Shrewsbury Town

By scoring his first goal, Will Collar hopes he can start to find his feet more consistently for MK Dons.

The ex-Stockport County midfielder, who netted nine times last season, has been made to wait for his first goal having struggled for regular form since making the switch in the summer.

Though jokingly called a screamer by boss Paul Warne, Collar’s goal, coming after 39 minutes against Shrewsbury on Saturday, was as scrappy as they come, bundling it over the line from close range after keeper Will Brook spilled Aaron Nemane’s shot.

But the 28-year-old did not care one jot.

“It was definitely not a screamer and not one of my best, but I’ll definitely take it. Sometimes you need a scrappy one to turn a corner and hopefully it will be a key one for me.

“It came from a throw, Nat did well to turn his man, it’s come across for Az (Aaron Nemane) to have a shot, and sometimes you’ve just got to be in there and I was.”

He continued: “It has been frustrating for me so far because I’ve not got any goals or assists as yet, but it is a big part of my game. It has been frustrating for me and the team.

“It is hard to put my finger on, it has been going through my head but you can overthink things sometimes. It can be difficult coming to a new club, especially when I was comfortable where I was before. I have really enjoyed it here so far, but sometimes it just doesn’t click straight away.”

Certainly not the best game from a quality standpoint, Dons’ 2-1 win over the struggling Shrews saw them end a five-game win-less streak. And with nine first-team players missing through injury and suspension, Collar said the make-shift side did what was needed to get the points in Shropshire.

“Three points is the biggest thing,” he added. “If you look at our first-half performance, we were functional, played in the right areas. In the second, we didn’t really get on the ball as much, came off what we did in the first-half and let them come onto us, which they were always going to.

“We know we can play much better, but three points is the most important thing.”