Win puts to rest a traumatic year at MK Dons - Alexander

Graham Alexander said Saturday’s stunning win over League Two favourites Wrexham hopefully draws a line under a ‘traumatic year’ for MK Dons.

The 5-3 victory at the Racecourse Ground, on Wrexham’s first game back in the Football League in 15 years, was a shock result for most in the football pyramid, especially given Dons’ lacklustre pre-season campaign, certainly in terms of results.

Heading into the new campaign, few have picked Dons to be in contention for automatic promotion but after shocking the front runners in the opening game at a ground they did not lose at all term last year, Alexander said he hopes the win for his side will be a great starting block for the start of his tenure.

“I'm delighted for everyone,” he said. “It has been a traumatic year but look at the numbers we've brought here today, it shows the loyalty is still there.

“I'm delighted for everyone at the club, and seeing how much the players have put in in pre-season. But these three points will win us no more this season, we have to keep going. We will learn from what we did well, improve what we can do better. It's a great feeling.”

”I’ve tried to kill you”

After what was a tough pre-season campaign, Alexander paid tribute to the fitness and the mentality of his players, who ran themselves into the ground in Wales.

He added: “The work ethic and running power behind the front players was unbelievable. I said to them before the game 'I've tried to kill you in pre-season, but you're still here so you must still have a load in the tank!'

“We were going to approach the game in that way, starting brightly, and we did that. We got about them, pressed them and made them turn the ball over. If we can get the ball, we know we can hurt teams. But there's more to football than just keeping the ball.

“We're trying to put those things in place. Hopefully, that's a taste that we can be successful.”

One area though where he believes his side can improve though is shoring up at the back. Conceding three goals from relatively innocuous spells from Wrexham came at times when Dons should have been seeing the game out - five minutes before half-time, eight minutes from the end and then five minutes into stoppage time.

It meant that at no time Alexander was able to relax during the match.

He said: “I didn't think it was over until the whistle went - every time we went a couple of goals ahead they pulled one back. I've been in football long enough to know it's never over until it's over.

“But we were clinical, we have good quality and we have to get those players into good positions as often as we can.”