League Two: MK Dons 1-0 Swindon Town

MK Dons continued their good Boxing Day form with a 1-0 win over Swindon Town to move them up to fourth place in League Two.

Aaron Nemane’s first-half strike was enough to see Dons claim a fifth win in six years on Boxing Day, keeping them firmly in the promotion hunt, four points from the top, but now just a point from the automatic promotion places.

Following his three-match ban, Jack Sanders returned to the side at centre-back with Jon Mellish dropping to the bench in an otherwise unchanged side from the win over Harrogate Town.

With the sides so evenly matched heading into the game - separated by four points ahead of kick-off - the opening exchanges saw the ball fire from end-to-end, neither really able to get the game under control.

Chances were half at best, both sets of defences blocking efforts from close range before a moment of brilliance from Aaron Nemane gave Dons the lead.

Winning the ball just inside the Swindon half, the Frenchman cut inside from the left-flank to skip past a couple of challenges, before lashing home from 20 yards to put the home side on top.

From there, Dons looked the better of the two and perhaps should have added to their lead, with Aaron Collins and Alex Gilbey all coming close, while at the other end, the returning Sanders headed Joel McGregor’s looping effort onto the underside of his own bar to keep Dons ahead at the interval.

The closely fought encounter continued to be a nip and tuck affair in the second-half, with both sides going after a goal which would alter the shape of the standings at the end of the day.

Collins would see another effort go close, as would Sanders, who put in a stellar performance at the back on his return.

Swindon though thought they had drawn 12 minutes after the restart when Craig MacGillivray tipped a header away only for it to drop to the feet of Joel McGregor barely a couple of yards out, but he blasted it into the sidenetting.

As the substitutions slowed the flow of the game, Dons looked more likely to see the game out, and should have extended their lead through Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, only for the ex-Crawley man to loop his effort onto the roof of the net.

Referee: Ben Atkinson

Attendance: 9,839 (1,797)

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Sanders, Ekpiteta, Offord, Jones (Lemonheigh-Evans 90), Nemane (Mellish 63), Gilbey, Kelly, Collar (Thompson-Sommers 63), Collins (Hepburn-Murphy 69), Paterson

Subs not used: Trueman, Crowley, Leko

Swindon Town: Ripley, Wright, Nichols, Glatzel, Taffazolli (Ball 73), Kilkenny, Knight-Lebel, Munroe (Palmer 59), Bodin (Ehibhatiomhan 73), McGregor (Snowdon 60), Oldaker (Tabor 87)

Subs not used: Ward, Mabete

Booked: Munroe, Collar, Oldaker