Smith on his goal and a much-improved Dons performance after Oxford win

Matt Smith will be claiming MK Dons’ opening goal against Oxford United on Saturday, even though it may credited as a John Mousinho own goal.

The midfielder fired the ball under keeper Simon Eastwood just a minute before half-time but the Oxford skipper got the final touch to put it into the back of the net.

Smith would later slide Will Grigg through on goal, only to see the striker upended by the U’s stopper, earning a penalty which he smashed home to make it 2-0 with six minutes to go.

Mousinho would then get one at the right end to pull one back for Oxford, but Smith was adamant the opener was his.

He said: “I'd like to think it was my goal! It would be nice to get my first goal of the season, and I'm sure they won't want it to go down as an own goal. Hopefully it'll get credited to me.”

The win not only lifted Dons out of the relegation zone and above their opponents on the day, but ended a three-match losing streak too.

Following the torrid display against Bolton on Tuesday, which saw them fail to register a single shot on target, Smith said it was vital the side bounced back in winning fashion.

“I felt like we let ourselves and the fans down in the last couple of games,” the Welsh international continued. “But we can't get too low, because coming here low on confidence it can get on top of you.

“The game in the week has gone, we can't dwell on it, so we came to Oxford with a fresh mentality and I think it showed when we had to dig in deep.

“It was a different performance to Tuesday - we looked a real threat on the break, we knew the spaces would become available to us, and we looked confident in attack which I don't think we have been recently.

“The strikers worked hard all afternoon, and when we won the ball back, we knew we could hurt them in transition.

“Our problem in the last few games is that we've not really had enough moments to take our chances. When we get those opportunities today, it was important to take them, not to turn back but to attack.”