Defender Marvin Ekpiteta spoke after MK Dons’ 2-1 win over Swindon Town

Goal-scorer Marvin Ekpiteta knows MK Dons will be looked at as a bit of a scalp for many teams come Monday’s FA Cup second round draw.

The centre-back netted his second goal in as many games, with Aaron Collins bagging his 17th, as Dons saw past Swindon Town 2-1 at Stadium MK in the first round on Saturday, booking their spot in the draw.

The 31-year-old knows all about the magic of the FA Cup, cutting his teeth in non-league for the likes of Chelmsford, Concord Rangers and East Thurrock before securing an EFL contract in 2020 when he signed for Blackpool.

With Dons one of the highest ranked clubs left in the competition heading into the draw, Ekpiteta admitted the club will be a scalp for anyone from a lower league.

He said: “I’ve been a player in non-league, looking forward to playing a team from a higher level so I know what it’s like. It can make a whole career. A lot of the players might only get one chance to play a professional club. We’ll see on Monday what happens.

“I love the FA Cup, playing against teams at different levels, it’s a chance to test yourself. It’s a good opportunity. Hopefully we go as far as we possibly can.”

While his goal after two minutes, and Collins’ strike 11 minutes later threatened to put Dons out of sight, missed chances - including one of his own - left the door open for Swindon to get back into it, as they did on the stroke of half-time through Aaron Drinan.

It made life less comfortable for Dons in the second-half as Ian Holloway’s side looked to force home an equaliser at Stadium MK.

Though Ekpiteta felt the game was pretty comfortable all told, he said Dons should have been high and dry before half-time.

“Easily, we should have been three or four up before they scored, it would have been game done,” he added. “We made things a bit harder for ourselves but we got the job done.

“We should have been out of sight really. We stayed in the game, we limited their chances, created some of our own and saw it out quite comfortably I’d say.”