Milton Keynes Dons 1 Dover Athletic 0: Karl Robinson plays the change game

Karl Robinson stood in the middle of the home dressing-room and steeled himself for one of the more significant half-time team talks of a promising managerial career. He allowed the silence to build, and his anger to subside, before he delivered a series of home truths.

"All shouting will do is create more fear and anxiety, but what are you going to do to change things?" he asked. "I look at some of you and there's a lack of quality, intensity, hunger and desire. Not acceptable. I don't care who you are, you need a work ethic in this game.

"Don't talk to me about a lack of confidence. That's the biggest excuse in the world. It's a shithouse's way out, a failure's way out, an amateur's way out. Who is going to be the man? Who is the one who is going to say, 'I'm there. I'll suffer. I'll run. I'll take the ball in the face. I'll give you everything?' "

He walked out and Gary Waddock, his assistant, moved seamlessly in, to offer homespun, almost paternal, advice. Their young team were galvanised, and ended Dover's hopes of an FA Cup upset with Ben Reeves's 51st-minute goal, a driven shot from 12 yards. It was an ugly win, an old pro's win, a vital win.

Robinson's reputation as one of the brightest coaches in the British game was protected. He is not in a rational business. There were 60 managerial changes in the top four divisions last season; 19 clubs have already made changes this season. Eleven clubs have had 10 managers or more in the past decade.

Upheaval is occasionally cathartic, but rarely effective. Research covering the past five years suggests a new manager improves results by an average of 0.5 points per game in his first four matches. The average plummets to 0.1 point per game over 30 matches.

Robinson was the Football League's youngest manager, at 29, when he was appointed by MK Dons in May 2010. He is now the sixth-longest serving manager of the top 92. Yesterday was his 191st match in charge. His detractors decreed his overall win percentage, a fraction over 44 per cent, was less relevant than the Dons' eight losses in their previous 11 games.

"When I got this job I was not ready," he admitted. "I wasn't grounded enough. We're too quick to give people jobs, but the moment you have a bad time it is 'get rid of him'. The bad times make you a better manager. Someone said to me, 'Karl, you will manage in the Premier League, but you have to be sacked first'.

"I don't need that to happen for me to understand. I've learned in this run that I'm fearless, and that I enjoy it, sickly. This has taught me that the sun will set and rise, regardless of whether we win, lose or draw.

"The quicker I get on with it, the quicker it is going to turn. If I want to stew, and mull over silly components to setbacks, the worse it will seem. If they want to sack me, what can I do but move on? I believe I can be the best.

"I don't brood about things, even though my wife would probably tell you different. I gave the boys four days off this week. People said, 'what do you mean, you're losing?' They'd been in for 14 days straight and lost three. I tried to break the mould. Sometimes people can work so hard it creates anxiety and tension."

Such thoughts percolated through his brain during his pre-match ritual, which involved purchasing a cup of chain-store coffee, plugging in his earphones to listen to soft-rock classics by the Eagles, and walking around a nearby lake.

He paused for 15 minutes in one of Milton Keynes's landmarks, the so-called Peace Pagoda, built by the monks and nuns of the Nipponzan Myohoji as a symbol of world brotherhood, and "cleared my mind".

His message to his team was unequivocal: "This is absolutely huge. The Cup throws up games you remember for the rest of your life. Get your heads around the fact this is going to be a fight. Embrace that. Challenge yourself.

" If you are not ready for a war you are in the wrong place. This is about being in the trenches, and digging as deep as you can."

Looking around the room, it was impossible to avoid being struck by the callowness of his players. When they completed preparations with a nine-a-side match between the Oldies and the Young 'Uns, three 21-year-olds were in the veterans' team.

Robinson has made his club £4.7 million by selling academy products. It is likely that, by next summer, two more teenaged tyros, midfield player Dele Alli and centre- half Brendan Galloway, will realise another £5 million.

The final training session involved brief, measured bursts of urgency. The warm-up involved a pressing drill, without the ball. A one-touch passing session, featuring five players in small squares, increased in intensity as he shouted: "Sharp, sharp, sharper!". Set-piece ploys were perfected, but the human chemistry was delicate.

Adversity inhibits younger players, and it was not until that half-time exchange that senior pros such as the captain, Dean Lewington, Alan Smith and the outstanding Stephen Gleeson challenged those around them. The undercurrent of frustration was mirrored by allegations that the defender Shaun Williams was involved in an altercation with fans, on the way into the dressing room.

Robinson, preoccupied by the bigger picture, had headed straight to his office to watch clips of the first half, so missed that. "When we look back, that could be the win that changes our season" he said. "It was a horrible win, but a win is a win."

MK Dons (4-2-3-1): Martin (McLoughlin, 77); Hodson, Spence, Williams, Lewington; Smith, Gleeson; Carruthers (Galloway, 77), Reeves, Banton ( Baldock, 46); Bamford.

Dover Athletic (4-4-1-1): Walker; Stone, Forbes, Raggett, Wynter; Modeste (Bakare, 57), Kinnear (Orlu, 90), Rodgers, Murphy (Charles, 86); Cogan; Elder.

Referee Brendan Malone.