League Two: MK Dons 3-1 Bristol Rovers

An Alex Gilbey brace helped MK Dons to a comfortable 3-1 win over Crewe Alexandra on Saturday as they made it four wins in a row in League Two to move up to second place.

Will Collar opened the scoring midway through the first-half before Gilbey netted his fifth of the season five minutes before half-time.

The lashed home his second and Dons’ third on 57 minutes to put the game beyond reach of the Railwaymen, who could only bag a consolation goal in the tenth minute of time added on at the end.

The win lifts Dons into the automatic promotion places, now just two points behind leaders Walsall following their home defeat to Barrow.

After scoring Dons’ second in the 4-0 win over Bristol Rovers last week, Laurence Maguire missed out on the game at Stadium MK through injury. It meant a recall for Jack Sanders, who had been out since September 6, coming back into the back three.

Seeking a fourth league win in a row, the hosts started, as they had done in recent games, really brightly with a handful of chances which could have given them the lead. Liam Kelly, Callum Paterson and Jon Mellish both had efforts blocked before Marvin Ekpiteta, seeking his first for the club, had an effort deflected over.

Making his return to Stadium MK, former Dons loanee Emre Tezgel, now lining up for Crewe, was proving a handful for Ekpiteta and he played a part in their best effort of the half, but Craig MacGillivray was more than a match for Owen Lunt’s strike.

It would be the hosts though who would open the scoring midway through the first-half, firing home from the edge of the box after Ekpiteta teed him up nicely to shoot through a crowd and past Tom Booth.

Until that point, Dons had looked the better in a scrappy midfield fight, the goal swung momentum in the direction of the visitors, who then looked more of a problem for the hosts, though some backs-to-the-wall defending kept them from creating anything clear-cut.

Five minutes before the break though Dons would double their lead, with captain Alex Gilbey finely picking out the bottom corner after Paterson and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing combined to tee up the skipper.

It would be similar fair in the second-half as Dons looked to tighten their grip on the game. While Crewe huffed and puffed without really testing MacGillivray, Gilbey would get his second of the afternoon on 57 minutes when Nemane capitalised on a loose touch from Reece Hutchinson, picking out the captain on the edge of the box to fire in Dons’ third.

The goal sucked the life out of the match as Dons looked to shut up shop, but there were still chances for Nemane and substitute Rushian Hepburn-Murphy in the latter stages to no avail.

The only blot on the book for Dons would come in the 100th minute when MacGillivray came chasing a corner he could not reach, allowing substitute Louis Moult to sweep in last-gasp consolation.

Referee: Craig Hicks

Attendance: 6,911 (483)

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Offord, J Sanders (Thompson 76), Ekpiteta, Mellish, Nemane (Tomlinson 63), Collar, Gilbey (Thompson-Sommers 86), Kelly (Crowley 76), Mendez-Laing (Hepburn-Murphy 76), Paterson

Subs not used: Trueman, Leko

Crewe Alexandra: Booth, Billington, Hutchinson (Finney 81), Demetriou, M Sanders, Lankester (Agius 67), Thomas (Holicek 67), Connolly, Lunt (Moult 46), O’Reilly, Tezgel,

Subs not used: Waller, Rankine, Golding

Booked: Nemane, Offord, Paterson, Collar