MK Dons boss pleased with 'character' in win against Chesterfield

Lindsey’s men led 2-0 at half-time and just about survived a late onslaught after Darren Oldaker’s free-kick gave the Spireites hope with 15 minutes remaining. The visitors had earlier had chances to go further in front but their goalkeeper Tom McGill was also required to make a number of saves and they scrambled one off the line in stoppage time to claim the three points.

“We showed real character today, especially in the closing minutes,” Lindsey said. “We showed real togetherness and grittiness. I think that is important, I think that can win you games alone. I think the character shown is the most pleasing thing from today. We didn’t win the game playing our way today but we have won the game playing a different way.

"Did I like the way we played? I liked bits of the first-half. The second-half became a bit more like a basketball game, it was end-to-end, which kind of doesn’t suit us, but we are a work in progress.

"This is a tough place to come, a really difficult pitch, the conditions aren’t great because the pitch is actually really bad. In the first-half I felt we passed the ball but we had to be really clean with it because of the pitch. There were a couple of moments where we sailed a little bit too close to the wind. We scored some really good goals and I felt we could have scored more today.”

Paying tribute to the Spireites, he added: “Chesterfield are a good side and they have got good players who can manipulate the ball from left to right, right to left. They have got players who can open you up. I felt we sat in too deep at times and blocked up and we probably gave them too much respect at times.”