League Two: Crewe Alexandra 1-3 MK Dons

MK Dons are a point from automatic promotion after a comfortable 3-1 win over Crewe Alexandra on Saturday.

Goals from Curtis Nelson, Marvin Ekpiteta and Alex Gilbey saw Dons cruise into a 3-0 lead, with Adrien Thibaut’s goal 15 minutes from time mere consolation for the Railwaymen as their chances of the play-offs were extinguished.

With Swindon drawing earlier in the day, ex-Dons academy product Kabongo Tshimanga’s brace for Barnet against Notts County handed the Bees a 2-1 win at Meadow Lane, meaning Paul Warne’s side are five points clear of Salford in fifth with two games to go.

With Jon Mellish suspended following his red card against Bromley last week, Paul Warne was forced into one change by handing Joe Tomlinson his first start since February 7 and the win over Cheltenham Town, with Scott Hogan coming in on the bench.

Last season’s game between the sides in Cheshire needed a Hogan goal to ensure Dons’ League Two status, but the focus was very much at the other end of the table a year later.

Both sides knew three wins out of three their remaining would be important - for Crewe it would give them an outside chance of a play-off spot, while for Dons it would secure their spot in League One instead.

And it was the visitors put down their marker on the game with a dominant first-half showing which put them two goals to the good.

It was a goalkeeping error which allowed Hogan to score last season, and this time around Ian Lawlor will have wanted to do better when Curtis Nelson rose above the rest to head through the keeper’s attempts to keep it out, giving Dons the lead after 12 minutes.

Looking in control for long spells of the opening half, Dons didn’t really give Lawlor much to do despite sustaining pressure, but there were sights of goal for Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Ben Wiles and Callum Paterson, who saw his header come back off the post.

But on the stroke of half-time, Dons doubled the lead when Mendez-Laing’s cross was flicked over the reach of Lawlor by Marvin Ekpiteta.

With their season on the road, Crewe needed a response in the second-half, and they looked more of a threat after the break and nearly pulled one back when Adrien Thibaut, on at the change, hit the post barely two minutes after the restart. And when Josh March forced a save from keeper MacGillivray, it looked as though Dons be forced to play with their backs to the wall.

But that was until skipper Alex Gilbey bent in his 11th goal of the season midway through the second-half to make it 3-0 to the visitors.

With eyes then focused on results elsewhere, particularly from the 1,000+ travelling supporters, who remained in full voice all afternoon, Crewe managed to get one back with 15 minutes to go as Thibaut threw himself at a free-kick to poke it past MacGillivray.

It did little to alter the course of the game though as Dons eased through to full-time, now just a point from automatic promotion.

Referee: Zac Kennard-Kettle

Attendance: 5,858 (1,087)

Crewe Alexandra: Lawlor, Billington, Hutchinson, Demetriou, M Sanders (Thomas 74), Holicek (Powell 74), Connolly, Agius (Pond 46), March, O’Reilly (Thibaut 46), Tezgel

Subs not used: Booth, Tracey, Finney

MK Dons: MacGillivray, J Sanders, Ekpiteta, Nelson, Jones, Tomlinson, Kelly (Hepburn-Murphy 84), Gilbey, Wiles, Mendez-Laing (Lemonheigh-Evans 66), Paterson

Subs not used: Trueman, Crowley, Hogan, Collins, Nemane

Booked: M Sanders, Gilbey