Mindset has remained positive throughout Dons’ recent sticky patch - Watson

The attitude in the MK Dons has not changed despite a difficult month of October, Tennai Watson says.

After winning Manager of the Month for September, Dons have won just two of their six games this month - the Papa John’s Trophy game with Wycombe Wanderers and the brilliant 2-1 win over Wigan at the DW Stadium - losing the other four.

It’s a streak which has seen Dons slip from third to seventh in League One, but there is no change in the mentality in the dressing room, insists defender Watson.

“I feel like we’ve got an ambitious and strong-minded group,” he said. “When you go through these patches, that’s important. It’s a message that has been driven into the players right at the start even before things were going really well for us. It was made clear that there will be a few games in a row we don’t win, when things will get hard, different types of games and opposition.

“Every game in this league is difficult. Each team has their own style, their own strengths but this group, although we’ve had results not go our way, we’re not down in the dumps about it, not dwelling on it. We’re focused on what our strengths are and coming back, without underestimating the opposition.

“It’s about remaining level-headed. A lot of our meetings focus on the mental side of football which should give us an advantage.”

Watson, who signed for the club in the summer after leaving Reading, said he picked up on the confident air around Dons immediately upon arriving initially on trial and it was the atmosphere between Russell Martin leaving and Liam Manning taking over at the helm which leads him to believe this could be a good season for Dons.

He said: “Straight away, I felt the energy of ambition and players wanting to do well. We all had a belief in each other, not just the manager.

“During that transition time, that made it clear we could achieve something here because you could tell the boys love playing with each other, believe in each other and that’s what you need to succeed. We’ve got bundles of talent too, that’s important too!”