Lack of urgency threatened to cost MK Dons their winning streak

The opening 20 minutes of the game against Cheltenham Town on Saturday threatened to undo so much of MK Dons’ hard work from the last few weeks.

Seeking to win for a fifth time in a row in League Two for the first time since March 2022, Dons dismal start to the game saw them 2-0 down inside 13 minutes as Luke Young and George Miller gave Michael Flynn’s side the lead.

It was the fifth consecutive game in all competitions in which Dons have fallen behind and had to mount a comeback, but it was also the biggest margin the side have turned around as they claimed a 3-2 win at Stadium MK to make it five straight in League Two.

Laurence Maguire, the scorer of Dons’ winning goal four minutes from time, said the first-half performance in particular was too lethargic, and perhaps under-estimated Cheltenham, who themselves came headed to MK1 seven without defeat.

He said: “We probably turned up thinking we could play our game but credit to Cheltenham, they pressed us, went man-for-man, and that's when we have to make things more scrappy and play quicker. Cheltenham have showed up and put it on us, and we didn't turn up. Gilbs' goal was massive for us, because 2-0 is never secure but we always felt we have enough quality to turn it around.

“We know the performance wasn't good enough, the first-half particularly. We needed to be more urgent. It was scrappy, and sometimes you can't always play the way we want to. We played too slowly in the first-half, but you could see in the second we were quicker, dropped on every second ball, and went onto win the game.

“But credit to the boys, the character we showed to turn it around is massive.”

Despite the performance though, Maguire’s late winner ensured the near 7,000 Dons supporters in attendance left happy with three points, now just one off the automatic promotion spots.

“They're the best wins,” he added. “We want to play football, the MK way, dominating and passing the ball but we can't always do that. We have to adapt, and I think we did that. It's a massive win for us.

“The main thing is to have won five in a row, and we're moving in the right direction. I believe we still have a lot to work on. Last week was a big result, but today was different. There are no easy games in this league.”