Watters’ first Dons goal adds to Manning’s attacking options

As if winning at Priestfield for only the second time wasn’t enough for MK Dons on Saturday, Max Watters’ first goal for the club put the icing on the cake.

The 22-year-old, on loan from Cardiff City, missed the start of the season with an ankle injury and made his return last week against Portsmouth.

Given a half-hour run out against Gillingham, Watters missed an earlier chance when he fired straight at Jamie Cumming in the Gills’ net, but made amends when he was unselfishly played in by Scott Twine to score Dons’ fourth late on.

“I'm delighted for Max,” said head coach Liam Manning afterwards. “It was a tough start missing the start, but he's worked hard to get back in.

“He's had a good couple of weeks of solid training so I was delighted for him to come on, make an impact and get his goal.

“He gives us different options. Max coming on allowed Troy (Parrott) to come deeper and impact the play.”

With four different scorers against GIllingham, Manning said he was delighted to see his goal-scorers spread amongst his side. Though Parrott’s strike may go down as a Max Ehmer own goal at Priestfield, Manning was crediting the Republic of Ireland international with the goal, while attackers Twine and Watters also added to the scoresheet, while wing-back Peter Kioso scored a spectacular effort too.

“It's important to have multiple people in our team who can score goals,” Manning continued. “Credit to the guys, they own that with the creativity they have and that ruthless edge. We have to keep that.

“We've got Mo to come back as well, so we've got good variation. It allows us to be adaptable, make decisions in games and change things.”