Lindsey warns of a wake-up call after Dons emphatic defeat to Newport

Scott Lindsey held his hands up after MK Dons’ remarkable 6-3 beating to Newport County on Saturday, shouldering the blame for the wild defeat.

Just a day after marking Dons’ biggest ever win a decade ago - the 7-0 win over Oldham in 2014 - Dons would suffer their highest-scoring defeat in an uncharacteristic performance riddled with unforced individual errors.

Trailing 4-0 after 36 minutes, Dons threatened on a couple of occasions to get back into it, but on a ground perhaps better known for a sport with a different shaped ball, the score threatened to resemble a rugby score by the end.

Speaking afterwards, Dons’ head coach bore the brunt of the blame for the defeat, adding the loss should act as a wake-up call for the club.

“I apologise to everyone connected to MK Dons and all the fans who made the journey,” Lindsey said. “That was not acceptable, that was not how we play, that was not like us at all. But I have to take responsibility - it's my team, my tactics, my training methods, my fault.

“We can't capitulate after a mistake. We looked nervy, we just looked not like us at all.

“We made three mistakes, they scored three goals, and the penalty too. We capitulated after conceding from a mistake. And then we did it again, and looked nervous and like we didn't want to play. That gave Newport another 20 per cent in their game.

“We did our homework, and we know they press but we just weren’t good enough. We didn't run, didn't press and didn’t do our fundamentals properly. I think it's a wake-up call. We take our medicine and go down the road.”

Unlikely as it may have seemed though, Luke Offord’s goal on the stroke of half-time to make it 4-1 threatened to open the door again for the visitors, something which Lindsey put to his players at the break.

He added: “As crackers as it may seem, at half-time I said they could get something out of the game. I know we've got goals, and that Newport can be leaky in defence.

“I asked all of them at half-time if the players believed we could still get something, or I'd have to make changes. I needed 11 men on there who still believed, and they all did.

“I believed we could stay in the game, but after two minutes were were 5-1 down. Give yourselves a chance, boys.

“I could have shut up shop and played for damage limitations, but that's not what I'm like. I've got big enough shoulders to take the brunt of it.”