Boss praises 'brilliant' performance from his young defender Johnson against one of the top sides in the division.
David Artell says that one of the real positives to emerge from last night’s 2-1 defeat to promotion hunting MK Dons was the performance of young defender Travis Johnson. The Academy graduate was making only his 20th league appearance of his career at Stadium MK and was handed the task of going toe-to-toe with the Dons own flier Kaine Kesler-Hayden.
It was an intriguing battle of speed and although Kesler-Hayden’s ability saw him influence the game for the home side, Johnson provided the late assist for Bassala Sambou to score our goal deep into stoppage time.
On Johnson’s mature display, Artell told us: “I thought Travis was brilliant. He wasn't at his best on Saturday but I thought he was brilliant. He got a knock but he has done their man of the match (Kesler-Hayden) and stood up a ball and Bass (Sambou) has scored in the last few minutes.
“That is signs of real promise from him and now he has got to do every game, all game but he is still a young kid and this is his breakthrough season, so we have got to have that from all eleven and the squad.
The boss added: “Not just in the games but every day in training as well. They have go to live it and breathe it and it is easy when you are winning but it is harder when you are not to stay out on the training pitch for an extra 20, 30 minutes. They have to do that now more so because all those little bits add up over time.”