Cowley claims Dons are 'best I can remember in League Two'

Danny Cowley praised MK Dons and boss Paul Warne after they narrowly beat his Colchester United side 1-0 at Stadium MK on Wednesday, calling them the best League Two side he has seen.

A Matt Macey own goal proved to be the difference at MK1 after Aaron Collins’ effort came off the post to hit the U’s keeper, ensuring the hosts claimed their fourth win in a row to tighten their grip on an automatic promotion spot.

It was not a smooth passage to victory for Dons though, who made hard graft of the game in the second-half in particular.

Speaking after the game, Cowley, who previously managed Lincoln City to the League Two title in 2019, said Warne’s side are arguably the best he has seen in the division, and was proud to see his side to toe-to-toe with them.

“They are probably the best League Two team I can remember,” he said. “They’ve got outstanding players. Everyone at this level knows they’re not League Two players.

“They’ve got finances that are probably five times ours, but that doesn’t make it any easier, I’m not discrediting MK Dons because it’s not about having the money, it’s what you do with it. Paul Warne has assembled a really good squad. You look at their defenders, they’re really athletic and powerful boys.

“In the second-half, we showed so much personality and belief. We did everything in the second-half, we camped in their half, we dominated the ball, we just didn’t have more of a goal threat.”

He continued: “It was a fortuitous goal for sure. I was really proud of how we played, we’re really disappointed. We set the game up brilliantly in the first-half. When you go into the game without so many players, it’s really hard to come here with a team who has so many players at their disposal.

“We were more pragmatic. We knew they wanted us to have the ball because they’re so dangerous when they turn it over, so we wanted to flip it. We played with a back five, we were a threat on the counter but we didn’t execute well enough.”