Walkie talkies and phone calls kept Lindsey in touch with MK Dons' dugout during ban

Watching the game from on high, Scott Lindsey said he was in regular contact with Ben Gladwin in the MK Dons dugout during the 3-2 win over Cheltenham Town on Saturday.

The Dons boss was given a one-match ban after picking up a third booking of the season on Tuesday night during the defeat to Leyton Orient, meaning he had to watch the game from the camera gantry high above the pitch at Stadium MK.

But it was no walk in the park for Lindsey, who admitted it was a busy afternoon, having to chop and change personnel and formations throughout the afternoon to overturn an early 2-0 deficit.

Lindsey last served a touchline ban in March 2024 when he missed two games for Crawley Town, when he felt assistant Jamie Day had things well in hand.

But with the manner of Dons’ performance at Stadium MK on Saturday, Lindsey said it was a tough afternoon for him and his staff.

“It was frustrating today,” Lindsey said afterwards. “Before when I've been banned, I've kind of enjoyed it because you see the game in a different light. You're calmer usually, but I wasn't calm today because we didn't play well so it was a different experience for me. I just wanted to put a rocket into the players, it was a difficult watch.

“We had walkie-talkies and our phones - the walkie-talkies were a bit muffled so we reverted to phone-calls. I was in touch with Ben Gladwin on the bench, more so than Jamie and Carl down there. I spoke to Ben throughout the game, and was really clear with my messaging.

“We had to make decisions today in terms of personnel, substitutions, and with the shape of the team as we went on. It was ok, though, we managed it fine.”