The former Aston Villa and Birmingham City man has made an impact coming off the bench lately

The cameo performances of striker Scott Hogan recently have hugely impressed MK Dons boss Paul Warne.

The 33-year-old finished as the club’s top scorer last season but has struggled for starts this term, making just two this season (having made 17 appearances) and scoring only one goal.

Coming on at half-time in the wins over Harrogate and Gillingham, Hogan played a key part in Liam Kelly’s decisive fifth goal at Priestfield, and then headed back across goal for Marvin Ekpiteta’s winner against Swindon on Saturday.

While injuries have stifled his chances for a lot of the campaign, Warne admitted the former Aston Villa man has been frustrated with how the season has gone, and feels his latest outings off the bench are as good as he has seen since he took over last April from the frontman.

“He’s had a difficult season,” Warne said. “He struggled with injury, and I know he was frustrated with his body. He’s fully fit, and we’re starting to see close to the best of him. He’s playing with a smile on his face, which is good.

“On Saturday (against Swindon), he got put in down the wing, ball hit hand and on another day he could win a penalty. He had one when Wilesy zipped across goal and he’s inches from it, and he also had the bit of play heading across goal for Marv to get on it. A lot of the good attacking play has come through Scotty lately.

“He makes really good runs all the time, he’s clever with his movement, clever with his body, he’s good in the air. I’ve got a lot of time for him when he’s fully match fit.”

Not just fitness though, competition for places has also hindered Hogan’s chances, with the likes of Callum Paterson, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Aaron Collins and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy all hitting purple patches during the course of the season, putting themselves ahead in the pecking order.

Warne added: “I like the problem of which striker to start. If you’ve got four or five strikers around the place, that’s a good thing.

“If we start with Scotty, I know the level of performance we’ll get and he can be proud of the part he has played.”