Jackson wants to see more from Dons on the ball after first win

With precious little time to make huge changes, Mark Jackson said he has already seen elements of MK Dons’ game he can change after his first win in charge of the side this afternoon.

After a whirlwind few days leading up to his appointment from Leeds United on Friday to his first game in charge on Boxing Day, Jackson got the opportunity to see Dons first-hand from the sidelines during the 1-0 win over Forest Green Rovers, courtesy of Daniel Harvie’s 58th minute goal.

Jackson has taken just two training sessions before sending the side out to play, and certainly for the first-half, it felt like more of the same which had led to the downfall of Liam Manning. But a renewed Dons emerged from the dressing room for the second-half to not only clamp down on the chances they afforded to Rovers in the opening 45 minutes, but to claim a vital three points too.

“It's always difficult to come in in such a short period of time and try to impact the team,” Jackson said. “To get the win is fantastic.

“First and foremost, the lads were fantastic on the pitch, as they have been since I walked into the building. They've been attentive to what we're trying to do, but there haven't been big changes, just tweaks.

“It's great to get the win and to give it to the fans, who were terrific towards the end.

“It has to be gritty. We've got a clear identity, we had the ball for long periods and we could have done more with it but I'll develop that side. But for the short term, there were areas we highlighted and one was our defensive mentality. Every player at the end of the game was doing everything to protect our goal.

“We gave up more free-kicks and corners than we'd have liked, but every time the ball came in, we wanted to defend and get first contact and put our bodies on the line.

“We know what we need to do in the short-term, but we've got a longer term vision too and we can be positive and move forward.”

Being more positive on the ball

Possession-based play has been the name of the Dons game since 2019 when Russell Martin took over from Paul Tisdale, and three years later, it is still very much the MK Way.

But after Martin’s methodical process made way for Manning’s more up-tempo style last season, Jackson wants to ramp it up further. While he admitted it will take time for that to be able to fully take hold, he said a few tweaks he was able to make at half-time helped give Dons a different dimension against Forest Green.

He continued: “I knew we'd have the ball, I knew we'd be comfortable with it but it's my job to utilise it better. We could have come out in the first-half a bit more, and we had those opportunities but we turned back.

“My style is to dominate the ball but with a purpose. We need to teach the players how to do that more effectively but that will take time. The players want to get better, that's positive.”