“They didn’t give it away once”: Johnson on tough Leicester test

Bradley Johnson felt proud of the MK Dons players after their 3-0 defeat to Premier League Leicester City on Tuesday night.

Making his managerial debut, stepping in as caretaker manager in the absence of Dean Lewington who was having hamstring surgery, Johnson led the side from the dugout against Brendan Rodgers’ side.

But there was to be no upset on the cards as a strong Foxes team put Dons to the sword, with goals from Youri Tielemans, Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy comfortably seeing the Premier League side through into the quarter finals of the Carabao Cup.

With little pressure on Dons to go out and cause an upset, Johnson said he was pleased his side gave it their all.

“We knew it would be a hard test - the quality Leicester have in their side is top drawer - but we told the players to go out there with nothing to fear and to enjoy it.

“We played some good football. Ultimately we came up against a great side who never gave the ball away once. It was a good test, and I'm proud of them. Now, we're focusing on the league.

“Everyone in the changing room aspires to play at the top level, and there's no better way of testing yourself than in games like this. We knew they'd put out a strong side because they've not played in a while.

“Hopefully we don't come up against another team like that in our league!”

No injury concerns

With the important game on Boxing Day against Forest Green Rovers next up for Dons - another side scrapping in the League One drop zone - there were concerns when defender Jack Tucker did not emerge from the tunnel for the second half, while both Tennai Watson and Josh McEachran appeared to limp off the field too.

However, Johnson confirmed none are serious injury concerns ahead of Monday’s clash, saying: “Jack felt a bit ill before the game, he wanted to play, but he didn't feel well. We gave him the chance but he wasn't feeling well so we took him off.

“We spoke about the changes before the game, resting players ahead of Boxing Day. T was cramping up on Saturday, it was good for Josh to get 60 minutes, and we wanted to come out with no injuries. Hopefully nothing happens between now and Boxing Day.”