Eradicating set-piece goals a top priority for MK Dons in lead up to Cheltenham
MK Dons head coach Paul Warne spoke ahead of Saturday’s trip to Cheltenham Town
Defending set-pieces has been at the top of Paul Warne’s agenda this week ahead of MK Dons’ trip to Cheltenham Town on Saturday.
Of the last seven goals Dons have conceded, five have come from set-pieces and it is costing Dons dearly. Chesterfield and Grimsby both fought back from 2-0 down to snatch points, while Colchester’s stoppage time penalty cost Dons on New Year’s Day in the 1-0 defeat in Essex.
With set-pieces becoming more prominent in the game again, Dons’ seeming aversion to keeping them at bay is a bug-bear of the head coach, prompting him to pay specific attention to them in the lead up to the game in Gloucestershire this weekend.
“We’ve got to eradicate the set-piece goals we’ve conceded,” he said. “Of the last seven goals we’ve conceded, five of them have come from set-pieces. If you take that out, we could have four or five more points and we’d be looking great.
“It has let us down a bit, because we’re not getting cut apart in open play. We reduce the opposition to very little usually, so we have to do that again.”
Dons head to the EV Charger Point Stadium looking to extend Cheltenham’s losing run to five games, while extending their own unbeaten run in League Two. Steve Cotterill’s side have struggled since the turn of the year, picking up just one win in their last six matches.
Warne though is wary of how Cotterill has the Robins playing, especially at home.
He said: “Since Steve took over, they’ve picked up no end. His teams are hard to play against, they’re well coached, they’re good on the ball and we’ll have to be at our best to win.
“If you look at their last five or six, they’ve not had the results they wanted but they’ve had good performances. Before that, they won three out of four. They can go on a run of winning, or a run of losing, like anyone.
“There is always home advantage. Their pitch is significantly smaller than ours, which is fine. I like our lads on tighter pitches, I think we come out of it well.”