Scott Lindsey guided MK Dons to their first away win since April but insisted he still wanted his team to perform better despite a 5-1 hammering of Harrogate.
The ex-Crawley boss also registered his first victory since taking charge of the Dons, with the goals shared between Tommy Leigh, Joe White, Alex Gilbey, Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Sonny Finch.
Luke Offord also got on the scoresheet with a second-half own goal but it was never going to overshadow the Buckinghamshire outfit’s first triumph on their travels since their last trip to Wetherby Road – a 5-3 success during the final month of 2023/24.
A hard-to-please Lindsey, though, argued: “I thought we looked a bit anxious. It might sound mad to say that having won the game 5-1 but we were really conscious we wanted to get that away victory on
the board.
“We were really focussed on that at the hotel – we had meetings about it and the players had their own meetings because we wanted to get that monkey off our back.
“It had been over 23 weeks since our last away win, so three points were always our main objective, however we got them.
“I didn’t feel we played as well in possession as I would have liked but the players have taken so much information on board in terms of how we want to press and we have worked more on that side of things.
There were also still moments when we were really good.
“We scored some amazing goals and the players’ running stats will be off the scale as well but I just want more in terms of what we look like as a football team and being calmer in possession.”
Harrogate boss Simon Weaver was shocked by his side’s “mental capitulation” and suggested he would be looking into the psychological make-up of his squad with this heavy loss coming just three days after an impressive 2-1 derby success over Bradford.
He said: “I’m a bit shocked and really disappointed. It’s hard to comprehend after the highs of Saturday when everyone connected with Harrogate Town wore the shirt with pride.
“It was definitely ‘After The Lord Mayor’s Show’ and we couldn’t get anywhere near those levels in any aspect of our game. It’s a challenging time because we are showing we are capable one minute and then incapable of any form of consistency the next.
“That comes down to character and whether people have the capacity to be consistent, so we’ve got to look at the psychology of the group because there was a mental capitulation and the goals we conceded were awful.
“The second and third gave us a mountain to climb in the second half and then the fourth and fifth goals were just as awful.
“They hammered us and the scoreline was deserved in the end so it’s back to the drawing board for us.”
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