Reluctant cheerleader Mellish is growing in popularity at MK Dons
The Wigan Athletic loanee did not want to be in the spotlight on Saturday
Leading the celebrations after an MK Dons win has become something of a tradition in the last six years, but not everyone takes it so willingly.
On loan full-back Jon Mellish fought to get away from the spotlight after the 4-0 win over Bristol Rovers on Saturday, despite his excellent performance at the Memorial Stadium, and playfully fought against his team-mates to take centre-stage in front of the 500+ travelling Dons fans.
It was a bumpy start to life at MK Dons for the 28-year-old. Brought in on a season-long loan from Wigan Athletic, Mellish was thrust straight into the action after Joe Tomlinson’s injury away at Crawley, making his debut in the 1-0 defeat to Walsall.
His second appearance could not have gone much worse either - trailing 3-0 to Grimsby inside the opening half-an-hour, Mellish was shown a straight red card nine minutes before half-time to earn him three matches on the sidelines to watch on. Back in the side for the last two league games though, he has helped Dons to pick up wins against both Gillingham and Bristol Rovers.
A seemingly quiet character off the pitch, captain Alex Gilbey has been keen to bring the defender out of his shell amongst his new team-mates, and after his excellent performance in Bristol, the skipper was keen to get Mellish to take the plaudits from the supporters too.
“We’re trying to get him out of his shell, he’s a quiet lad,” he said. “Jon got the sending off and missed a few weeks but he’s an unbelievable fella.
“What we’ve seen from him in the last few weeks, he’s a top player, the lads all love him.
“Little things like that, all the lads trying to get him out there, it was nice for him to do it.”
Head coach Paul Warne too was pleased with what he saw from the wing-back against Rovers, adding: “I think he was pretty faultless and a bit of a thorn in their side. He’s a strong kid. Defensively, I thought he was solid as well. When you’re a wing-back, you need a good engine. We’re luck that while we’ve got Gethin, Kane and Joe out, we’ve got two good wing-backs there.
“He scored a wonder-goal in training before the game, a diving header from about 20 yards out so he was on the lads’ radar, so it doesn’t surprise me that the lads made him go and celebrate and it doesn’t surprise me he that he was uncomfortable with it!”