A bloodied nose was not about to stop Alex Gilbey on his return to the side

A punch to the face and a broken nose early in the first-half was not enough to encourage MK Dons captain Alex Gilbey to come off against Accrington Stanley on Saturday.

Having missed the first three games of 2026 with a groin issue, the skipper returned to the starting line-up for Dons’ trip to Wham Stadium. In a season of strange and persistent injuries have plagued the squad, Gilbey challenged for a free-kick but felt the full force of Stanley keeper Ollie Wright’s fist as it caught him on the nose.

Receiving treatment, Gilbey continued but doubled over a couple of minutes later, needing yet more treatment as both sets of medical staff helped the 31-year-old. Again though, Gilbey fought on, not only finishing the half but the whole game as Dons went on to claim a comfortable 2-0 win.

Leaving the ground with his nose still plugged, Gilbey was in high spirits after the game, with head coach Paul Warne saying it showed the captain’s warrior mentality to continue.

“I don’t know how the referee thought it was a foul, to be honest,” Warne said. “But Gilbs went with the keeper and broke his nose. But he’s the captain, he’s a warrior and he didn’t want to come off.

“When they told me he’d broken his hooter, I wasn’t really expecting him to come off with it. The other incident came when I think he choked on his own blood. But he’s absolutely fine, he’s looking forward to watching Arsenal on the bus home.

“If he did have to come off, we had midfielders on the bench who all bring something different to the game.”