Schumacher pleased with Plymouth’s routine win over MK Dons

Plymouth boss Steven Schumacher was delighted with his side after they cruised to a 3-1 win over MK Dons on New Year’s Day to open a seven point gap at the top of League One.

Goals from James Wilson, Niall Ennis and Morgan Whittaker were enough to do the double over Dons, having swatted them aside 4-1 at Stadium MK earlier this season.

Winning all three of their games over the festive period, Plymouth are well clear of chasers Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday, who both have a game in hand over Argyle.

Speaking after their win over Dons, Schumacher said: “I thought we played well, especially in the first half. We started the game really well. They managed to peg us back, but I just felt there were always going to be chances in the game, with the style of game that it was. Thankfully, we managed to stick two of them away, and we get another big three points here.

“It wasn’t dissimilar to the game at their place (when Argyle won 4-1). They had one or two chances where, with the way we set up, if you don’t get the press right, or there is a ricochet of the ball, it goes in their favour and is a one-on-one counter-attacking game.

“I thought we defended really well. Michael made a really good save from one opportunity. When they scored, it came from them losing the ball in our half, but that’s the style of the game you get when you play MK Dons. We knew that, and we felt we would have enough attacking players on the pitch to create enough chances and thankfully we did that and scored another three goals at home.

“In the last 15 minutes we changed our shape to stop their threats on the counter-attack, which meant they had the ball a bit more, but our lads were knackered by then so we were ok defending in our shape.”