"We needed a win": Warne relieved as MK Dons finally land league victory
The MK Dons head coach spoke after winning their first league game of the season against Luton Town
Paul Warne said he felt a range of emotions during and after MK Dons’ 2-1 win over Luton Town - the side’s first league win of the season.
Coming nine games into the League One campaign, the win was a long time coming, sparked by a remarkable Alex Gilbey goal and capped with Aaron Collins’ tenth of the campaign after Jordan Clark’s 70th minute equaliser at Stadium MK.
After six draws out of seven games on their return to League One, last week’s 5-1 hammering at the hands of Reading threatened to upset the apple cart even further for Warne, but the win coming seven days later, at the start of a busy 10-day period for the club, was a huge relief.
“My overall feeling is relief,” he said. “We’ve only lost one away, one at home, we’ve not been horrific but the league table suggested we were the second worst in it. We needed a win, the fans needed one too.
“Emotionally, it was exhausting. I know the club is on a journey but it feels like every game is a journey at the moment! It’s the highs and lows of football, we’ve all earned our money today and put both sets of fans through the wringer.
“It was edgy at the end because we needed a win, it was something we all wanted. When you win every week, you can feel invincible, but when you don’t, you feel doomed.
“So when you go 1-0 up through a wonder-strike, you think you don’t often seem them, is it a good marker? We were playing alright too when they scored their equaliser, so I just encouraged the lads to keep doing what they were doing. Fortunately we got one.
“When it went to 1-1, massive credit to the dressing room for being positive. I’d be lying if I told you I stood there still thinking we’d go on to win it. You catastrophise, fear the worst but I know the character of my players. Weirdly, with that long to go, I felt alright, it would’ve been much worse in the 86th minute.
“When Marv won that free-kick at the end, I was thinking ‘please just blow up’ and he had his whistle in his mouth.
“Over the course of nine league games, I think we’ve deserved a win. I’m really pleased for the dressing room. We’ve deserved it.”