Mark Bonner hails ‘brilliant’ effort as Gillingham see off MK Dons

Gillingham boss Mark Bonner was delighted with his squad as they beat MK Dons 1-0 to end their away day hoodoo.

Robbie McKenzie scored the game’s only goal, with his low effort in the 59th minute just creeping underneath Dons keeper Tom McGill and over the line.

That result saw Gillingham pick up back-to-back wins and, in the process, end a wait for an away win in League Two stretching back to September 21, while MK Dons saw a run of six straight league wins ended.

Bonner praised his players for getting the job done and said he wanted his side to use this to find consistency ahead of the busy Christmas period.

He said: “I hope the players get the credit they deserve today. They’ve had some pelters thrown at them recently, but the last two games they’ve been brilliant in terms of commitment and effort in the game.

“It’s a massive win that. Away wins and clean sheets are hard to come by.

“We absolutely will take it very, very gratefully. It backs up last week, which is great. To come here and win was probably a dream result and it helps maybe kick-start a bit of momentum. We need to try and keep backing that up and get rolling, but a big day for us and a big game from us.

“We’ve got to try and find some consistency at the moment. You look how open the league is – it’s madness. A run of results and consecutive results and putting chains of wins or unbeaten runs together can transform the table quite quickly, so that’s what we’ve got to try and do.”

Dons boss Scott Lindsey was left frustrated, feeling his side failed to create enough scoring opportunities for his liking.

He said: “We haven’t won it because we weren’t good enough in front of goal. That’s how we’ve not won it. For all the ball we had we didn’t create enough, and when we did create we weren’t ruthless enough. That’s how we’ve not won the game. It’s very simple.

“Unfortunately, we’ve come the wrong side of it today. I thought we played well, were very good and the better team, but we’ve lost 1-0. You can look at all the stats, all the possession, the touches in the box and look at all that, but at the end of the day, the main stat that counts is the scoreline and we’ve come away with nothing from the game.

“They win 1-0, good luck to them and fair play to them, but what I will say is for all the possession, I think we only have three shots on target. It’s not enough. We’ve got to be ruthless and we weren’t today.”