Important first clean sheet under the belt for MK Dons

MK Dons’ first clean sheet of the season is a step in the right direction, says Graham Alexander.

The 1-0 win over Tranmere Rovers while being their second win of the season was also their first lock-out under the new boss, and a vital one at that as Dons hit top spot in League Two on Saturday.

With Alexander and his coaching staff defenders by trade during their playing days, keeping the first clean sheet at Stadium MK was a big moment, and a key moment in the victory too.

“It's a step forward,” he said. “It's good we got it today, we haven't had much time to talk about it between games but we've done some analysis, we all took responsibility for it.

“Myself, Chris (Lucketti) and Erbs (goalkeeper coach) - that's our career in that final third. That decides how high you go, how many games you win.

“The players took a step forward today but we have to take that into Tuesday. We talked about winning last Saturday not winning any points this week and you saw the effort the players put in towards the win today. We'll have to do it all again on Tuesday.”

Keeper Craig Magillivray added: “It's massively important. As keepers and defenders, you pride yourself on clean sheets and if you can keep that door shut at our end, it allows the strikers to go and score and that's a good recipe for winning games.

“It's the first one, and hopefully the first of many.”