League One: MK Dons 6-2 Burton Albion

A dominant MK Dons scored six goals for a second league game in a row as they made it six wins in a row in dispatching Burton Albion 6-2 at Stadium MK.

Goals from Dan Crowley and Sam Nombe asserted the hosts’ dominance despite being without leading scorer Aaron Collins, away on international duty, to lead 2-0 at the break.

Jack Sanders and Callum Paterson scored in a frantic five minute spell at the start of the second-half, sandwiching an Emeke Adiele strike for the Brewers to make it 4-1, before Nombe added his second and substitute Ben Wiles got the sixth, with Kain Adom’s fine finish a consolation late on.

It was a straightforward change for MK Dons upfront without Collins, seeing Callum Paterson handed his second start in a week after scoring against Bromley in the Jersey Mike’s Subs Trophy. Goalkeeper Will Dennis also returned to the side ahead of Craig MacGillivray.

The opening half though was all about one man, and that was Dan Crowley. A terrier in an otherwise uneventful eight minutes, the former Notts County man was in the first place at the right time to give Dons the lead before the ten minute mark, poking home Sam Silvera’s low cross to put the hosts in front.

Only his second goal in Dons colours since his move nearly two years ago, he was the lead protagonist thereafter, making the home side tick and actually looking the most likely to add to the score. He saw another shot headed away from inside the six-yard box and even had a rare header land on the roof of the net, while creating one of the best chances of the half with an excellent touch and then pass out for Silvera to cross, only for Sam Nombe to fire into the chest of keeper Corey Addai.

One thing he didn’t have any involvement in though was Dons’ second six minutes before the break, and that was all down to Nombe. Leaving Jason Sraha crumpled on the deck, the striker powered into the box, cut inside Brewers skipper Curtis Tilt and fired Addai, which the keeper could only parry back into his path to convert the tap-in.

Their comfort heading into the second-half appeared to be justified when Jack Sanders lashed home a third seven minutes after the break, but it sparked a mad five minutes which saw the game go from 2-0 to 4-1 in the blink of an eye.

Emeka Adiele pulled one back for Burton with their first shot on target on 54 minutes in emphatic fashion, lashing past Will Dennis from 15 yards out, threatening to make a game of it.

But two minutes later, Callum Paterson got his foot to Nombe’s looped ball back into the mixer ahead of two Burton defenders to find the bottom corner, restoring Dons’ three-goal advantage.

Things would only get better for Dons midway through the second-half when Nombe lashed in his second of the afternoon, racing onto Alex Gilbey’s pass to fire in low at the near post to make it 5-1.

Substitute Ben Wiles would get in on the act with 12 minutes to go with one of the goals of the day, deftly bringing down Goode’s pass to lose Harvey Araujo before lashing past Addai for number six.

His crown for goal of the day though was put up for debate three minutes later when Kain Adom unleashed a rocket from 20 yards to sail past a full-stretch Dennis to reduce the arrears to 6-2.

There would be a late blow for Dons when, after being subject to a nasty challenge from behind from Araujo, Nombe needed treatment but could not shake off an injury, and he was unable to finish the game.

Referee: Edward Duckworth

Attendance: 7,550 (504)

MK Dons: Dennis, Goode, Sanders, Ekpiteta, Campbell (Bramall 80), Silvera (Jones 72), Crowley (Wiles 72), Wintle, Gilbey (Fullah 72), Paterson (Barlaser 72), Nombe

Subs not used: MacGillivray, Nelson

Burton Albion: Addai, Sraha, Araujo, Tilt, (Earley 82), Raphael, Krubally, Chauke, Adiele, Webster (Oyemade 90), Adom (Scutt 82), O’Mahony (Henry 82)

Subs not used: Kean

Booked: Araujo