United left-back Marcus Williams spoke to The Iron Player about how the team’s slow start cost them in the long run as they went 2-0 down to MK Dons on Tuesday night.
Two goals from Northern Ireland international Will Grigg in the opening five minutes of the match settled the affair, and Williams reflected on how the Iron had to change tact at half time to avoid further punishment.Williams told us: “We started very badly obviously as they scored two goals which killed the game a bit and affected our momentum.
“We had a good warm-up and we’d prepared well, but the two goals in five minutes did the damage. It got the lads down quite a bit but we need to try and get the boys going again.
“We came in at half time knowing we had to try and not concede any more goals and start again from there, and we thought that if we could get one goal back then maybe we would get back in the game from there.
“We had to make sure we didn’t allow them to score anymore, and keep solid at the back.”
MK Dons showed exactly what they were capable of last Saturday when they demolished promotion rivals Swindon Town 3-0 at the County Ground live on Sky Sports, and Williams and the rest of the players knew exactly what they’d be up against when they visited the stadiummk.
Williams said: “We knew they were a great passing football team and they showed that in the game.
“They have strength in depth all over the park and they’re comfortable on the ball; that’s where we want to be and what we want to be doing as a team.
“They started brightly and we weren’t at the races at the end of the day, and those two goals essentially killed the game.
“Going back in to the dressing room and it was still 2-0 it showed character from the lads not to concede any more. I thought we possibly had some good spells in the second half when we got on the ball but obviously it was frustrating when we tried to play out on the pitch.
“At the moment after the game we couldn’t see any positives, but the gaffer told us that there were spells during the game that we played some decent stuff and looked good in the second half.
“At half time a lot of the lads’ heads were down so obviously the aim was to try and pick everybody up and go again.”
After the flurry of goals during the opening interval, as well as the numerous shots that followed, Scunthorpe kept it water-tight in the second half and didn’t concede for the full 45 minute duration, and Williams shared with us exactly what manager Mark Robins said to the players during the break.
“All Mark said at half-time was to keep going, get tighter to their players and try not to concede” he said.
“Also we needed to keep the ball better in defence because we were getting picked off at the back and in the second half we tried to change that and sit off a bit more and it helped us.
“At 2-0 they probably thought they were comfortable and took their foot a bit off the gas too.”
Moving on and looking forward, Williams was first to point out the crucial task of picking up points against the sides who occupy places around the Iron in the table.
He said: “We always knew it was going to be a tough game from the start but the important thing is now the games that are the teams in and around us with the likes of Colchester, Port Vale and Crawley being games that we need to win without a shadow of a doubt.
“We have two of those three at our home ground too so three sets of three points would be nice.”
See much more from Marcus Williams, Mark Robins and John Lundstram on The Iron Player.