Performance was 'chaotic' but effective in MK Dons' derby win

Despite the relative comfort of their 3-1 win over AFC Wimbledon on Tuesday night, assistant head coach Ian Watson said he would have liked MK Dons to be be a bit calmer in their performance.

All three goals came in the first 21 minutes as the hosts stamped their authority on the game and ultimately secured the points, but while the game was emotionally charged, Watson said it could and should have been more comfortable.

"It was a bit chaotic, I wanted more calmness, I don't like not having the ball," he said. "I think we could have controlled the game more, I wanted to pass the ball more and to smooth things out, but the boys just wanted to go for goals.

"It's a derby, emotions were running high, the boys were fantastic. The performance was good for a derby, there are things we want to improve but on the whole it's a really good night for the club.

"There were chances we could have taken, but the performance was really good, and we'll just focus on how to improve that. We know goals will come if we keep creating those chances. We tried to force it a little in the second-half at times and we just needed to kill them with the ball, take the fight away from them by keeping the ball, but I'm just nit-picking at the performance."

Experiencing his taste of the MK Dons-AFC Wimbledon rivalry, Watson admitted though that getting those early goals set the tone for the rest of the game.

He said: "It was great when the goals went in. We said the performance is important, but everyone wants to win and that's the most important thing. When we take those opportunities, it is such a good feeling. And it gave us that momentum.

"It was then about managing the game as best we could and the boys did that extremely well. We could have been cleaner with the ball, but in a derby I'm not going to complain."