Paul Warne spoke after his side’s 4-1 win over Bromley

Conceding an equaliser on the stroke of half-time might have been the perfect medicine for MK Dons, according to Paul Warne as his side went on to thump Bromley 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Mitch Pinnock’s free-kick took a wicked deflection en route to the back of the net in first-half stoppage time, cancelling out Aaron Collins’ 11th goal of the season just six minutes earlier.

While it was a performance Warne was not best pleased with, the late goal for the Ravens spurred Dons into life in the second, with Collins hitting his second of the night before Alex Gilbey and Charlie Goode completed the romp, leading Dons to back-to-back league wins for the first time this season.

“I was, perversely, quite pleased we conceded because the lads needed a shock,” Warne admitted afterwards. “I didn’t like the first-half. We started well but it felt like we were a bit flicky, a bit soft. I didn’t enjoy it. If we continued playing like that at 1-0 and they scored late, we wouldn’t have had time to come back.

“In the second-half though we were more than handsome for the win and the lads can take a lot of credit for it. I’d be happier if we kept our foot on the accelerator for the whole game, but I can’t complain.”

The win, Dons’ third in four games across 10 days, has seen the side go from mired in the drop zone to sitting comfortably in 14th, with any talk of pressure mounting on the head coach now on the back burner.

Though that one blot on the copybook came in the form of defeat to Blackpool a week ago, Warne said: “It’s amazing how quickly a season can turn with back-to-back wins.

“I feel like it has been a four-game block. I’m still mortified we didn’t win at Blackpool to have made it four on the spin but it’s ifs, buts and maybes. We’d only be three points off the play-offs though with a game in hand.

“(Bromley) have had a change of manager, but a lot of their team is the same. We’ve had a lot of change, we’ve strengthened ours but we started tonight only three points ahead of them. Every game asks different questions.

“I’m just really pleased for the group. We’ve just been on the rough end of a few results. Our points tally does not show how well I think we’ve done.

“We’ve won a few recently which has pushed us now. It gives us a really good feel-good factor.”