A win more akin to Warne's vision for MK Dons as they put Cheltenham to the sword
Head coach Paul Warne reflected on his side’s comfortable 5-0 win over Cheltenham Town
Paul Warne had precious few complaints after MK Dons thumped Cheltenham Town 5-0 at Stadium MK on Saturday.
With five different goal-scorers finding the back of the net, Dons were in control from the off, and could have had a goal even before Jack Sanders’ ninth minute opener when the excellent Callum Paterson hit the post just two minutes in.
Alex Gilbey netted his second in as many games before Paterson got his reward as Dons raced into a 3-0 lead after 25 minutes, with Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and Aaron Nemane adding strikes on the second-half.
It was Dons’ biggest win since the Max Dean-inspired 5-0 win over Walsall in March 2024, and the first win at home since March 2025.
“I think we needed to score here, truthfully,” said Warne afterwards. “It was more like our team and what we want it to look like. It had pace and courage throughout the team. To get goals and to win is great. I just want the game to be played in an exciting way.
“I’m really pleased, we got a goal early on in the game, and had a good chance before it as well, and then most of the things which could go our way did. We’ve kept a clean sheet, we’ve got five different goal-scorers, managed to make subs and not have any injury worries.
“Most of our good play was rewarded, we stuck to the game plan, stayed humble and hungry and I think we thoroughly deserved the win. We were very hard to play against.
“I liked the fact we worked hard to win the ball back after we lost it, I liked how hard people were running to make tackles. The ugly part of our game was really good. As days go, it’s right up there, I thoroughly enjoyed watching my team.”
Looking comfortable in the lead at half-time, Warne told his players to stick to their plan and continue to force the issue against Michael Flynn’s side, who have lost all three of their opening games this season.
Warne continued: “At half-time, I told them I was happy with a lot of the play but not all of it. I told them to continue doing what they were doing and they would continue to get joy. They have to keep their standards up.
“They’ve not achieved anything yet, loads of teams can do well in their first three games. The more the lads train with us, the more they understand how we want it to go.”