Saturday 8 August 2015 20:26, UK
Karl Robinson said his MK Dons players were spurred by being written off as relegation fodder as they enjoyed a 4-1 opening-day win at Rotherham.
The promoted Dons went top of the Sky Bet Championship with the comfortable win at the AES Seal New York Stadium.
First-half goals came from Rob Hall, a Jordan Spence cross deflected in for an own goal by Danny Collins, and Dean Bowditch's smart finish, putting the visitors in a commanding position at the break.
A powerful effort from Carl Baker sealed the win in the second half.
Dons boss Robinson praised his players for helping the team get off to a flying start in their first season at this level, when many expected they would struggle.
He said: "We were really humbled by the players' performance today. To be at this level makes us very proud and we put an assured performance in. I don't think I could ask for anything more from the players.
"There was a 15-minute spell in the first half when we really poor and they should have gone ahead. We scored a fortunate goal (the second) but never looked back.
"Internally we are very, very confident. To be tipped to go down and finish 24th is tremendous motivation for us.
"For the first day of the season it is excellent but we cannot get carried away in August.
"I'm really very pleased with all of the players. For six weeks we've been fighting tooth and nail to get to the level where we'd be competitive. We've made a statement of intent really early on.
"The players took on a game-plan and were very honest and hard working."
Matt Derbyshire's header had made it 1-1 in a lively start to the game. Aidy White then missed with the goal gaping, but Rotherham manager Steve Evans also felt his team's defending was poor.
"If you don't defend right and take chances at key stages of the match it's always going to be tough," said Evans.
"There's no excuse. The defending wasn't good enough. At 1-1 it only looked like there was one team in it but you can't miss the open goals and chances we miss and expect to win a game.
"We worked our way into the game and got a goal from Matt that we've been working on at the training ground and you can't get any better chances than what Aidy White misses. I can't see how he's missed it and I've watched it back 10 times.
"We missed three of four good chances. Within five minutes they are 2-1 up. It is as disappointing a start to a new season as you can get.
"I'm not coming out to make excuses. We'll take it bang in the face and get on with our football.
"There has been no shouting and bawling in the dressing room. It's just been a lesson learned."
