Garner calls for a response from Colchester when Dons visit Essex

Colchester United manager Ben Garner expects his side to respond to their poor start to the season with a strong showing against MK Dons on Saturday.

The U’s have lost both of their opening League Two games so far and sit bottom of the table.

Dons visit the JobServe Community Stadium for the first time since April 2019 on Saturday keen to get back to winning ways themselves after suffering their first defeat of the campaign on Tuesday, going down 2-1 against Crawley Town.

Garner, who formerly led Swindon Town and Charlton Athletic before taking over in Essex, said he hopes Tuesday’s loss to AFC Wimbledon will spark a reaction from his side come kick-off on Saturday.

He said: “The reaction from the squad has been positive, as expected really, players have come in and responded really well in terms of training and also in terms of conversations and meetings that we’ve had this morning so we’re expecting a much-improved display on Saturday. It has to be.

“It was a bad night, we’ve accepted it, we’ve apologised for it and we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“I think it’s great that we’ve got another game so quickly as there’s not time to dwell on it, we have to put it right, we have to respond. Saturday gives us the opportunity to do that.

“We have to take the frustrations from Tuesday out on MK Dons, put on a much better display in front of our home supporters and get that first win of the season that we want.”