The captain has scored 29 goals since his return to the club two years ago

“What a finish! I’ll claim the brace and move on!” joked Alex Gilbey after seeing his shot against Bristol Rovers put past his own keeper by Alex Kilgour.

It would have been his fourth goal of the season, but he would later have one definitively credited to him in the 4-0 win, thrashing home a well-worked Liam Kelly free-kick.

Goals have been a big part of Gilbey’s game since his return to Stadium MK in the summer of 2023. Scoring just 11 times for Dons in his first three-year spell at the club, the 30-year-old has netted 29 times the two seasons and 12 games since his comeback. That makes up half of his career goals to this point.

Now a regular contributor in front of goal, he was top-scorer at the club last season with 11, and is tied with Callum Paterson on four thus far. The captain cited the influence and impact of a former managerial team for unlocking his newfound goal-scoring prowess.

“The biggest question mark over me was whether I could score goals,” Gilbey said after the win at the Memorial Stadium. “I found the formula with Mike (Williamson), and I worked really closely with Busty (Ian Watson) and I thank them a lot. I now get that feeling, get into those positions and start believing and thankfully they’re going in.

“The gaffer now has given me a bit of a free role again, he told me to go out and enjoy my football, and that's all I'm doing.”

Now with three wins in a row, Dons moved up to fourth in League Two on Saturday, putting their promotion aspirations firmly back on course. Gilbey though is keen not to get too far ahead of himself, adding: “I love this place to bits, everyone knows that, and we just have to keep winning games now.

“We all know where we want to get to, we’ve all said it enough times now, but we take it a game at a time and keep rolling.”