Robinson salutes "outstanding" fans for their part in victory at MK Dons

Speaking to the press following Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Milton Keynes Dons, Addicks boss Karl Robinson was quick to praise the supporters for the role they played to help his side see the game out. 

Here are five talking points from Robinson’s post-match press conference…

On the fans…

“The three points were the most important thing. Those fans who were in the stands were outstanding. I was trying to get them going with two or three minutes to go, but they were already at a phenomenal noise level

“I want to thank them so much, because they’ve worked very hard to help us. I think they realised with five minutes to go that we needed them more than the players needed me. The fans stood up today and without them, we may not have seen that out. 

“They’ve been brilliant since I walked in the building. There might have been some uncertainty not knowing me or my passions for the club that I work for, I think they know that my players wear their shirt with proud. Win, lose or draw, we’ll always try our best and that’s any fan ever asks for. And all any player can ask for from a fan is that they sing their hearts out and get behind them when the going gets tough and our fans certainly did that. 

“Their support gave us a bit of extra confidence and we forgot about the negativity of recent games which allowed us to get the win.”

Seeing the game out…

“The players saw the last 10 minutes out wonderfully well. But we did that away at Doncaster. We played no differently here than we did at Doncaster, but for a deflection. We played no differently against Bradford the other day, but for another deflection dropping to one of their players. 

“We’ve seen games out very, very well and today was a little bit pleasing because it was an important one to get us back into the top six.

“We went to a back five late on and just felt that it would see it out a bit better. I’m really proud of the players for how they’ve achieved what they’ve done today.”

On his side’s current form…

“If you look at the last seven games, we’ve got 14 points so it’s two points a game which, as we know, is automatic promotion form. So it’s not a bad little run that we’re on. 

“We’ve still got Tariqe Fosu to come back and Stephy Mavididi a few weeks away. We changed one or two things and played different personnel in those positions and I can’t ask any more from my players. They were excellent.”

On injuries…

“When you’ve got Pearcey, who is one of the best centre-backs in the league, Harry Lennon, Naby Sarr, we’ve got five of the top centre-backs in the league, so if you lose one, we’ll miss them, of course, but we’re very, very fortunate that we’ve got a lot of players in that position. 

“I don’t know about the injury to Patrick, but we’ll find out Monday. 

“Tariqe Fosu will be back for Saturday, we hope. It was just a fatigue injury.” 

On Shrewsbury next week and moving forwards…

“Shrewsbury lost to Rotherham today, so it just shows that they’re beatable. They’ll look to turn that around because they’ll know they’ve got a massive game at The Valley, and when The Valley is rocking, it’s a great place for us to play. 

“We’re looking forward to staying in the top six now and keeping our front foot going forward. We’ve got two games in hand on the two teams above and below us, so it’s not a bad turnaround. 

I think we got to 51 points last season with two games to go, so it’s great to be in that position with 15 games to go.”

Supporters can watch Robinson’s full post-match press conference on Valley Pass on Saturday evening by clicking here…

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