Three in a row for MK Dons as they thump Bristol Rovers

Three goals in the final seven minutes against Bristol Rovers saw MK Dons run out comfortable 4-0 winners on Saturday to move up into fourth spot in League Two.

Leading through an early own goal, created by skipper Alex Gilbey, Dons had to wait until the end to complete the rout, with Laurence Maguire making it 2-0 seven minutes from time. Gilbey then got his goal as the clock ticked over to 90 minutes before Rushian Hepburn-Murphy came off the bench to net a stoppage time fourth.

The win, Dons’ third in a row, moves Dons into fourth spot.

After picking up back-to-back wins for the first time since December, Paul Warne opted for an unchanged side to the one which beat Gillingham last time out. Most notably though were the reinforcements on the bench, coming in the form of Jack Sanders and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy.

Early goals have been the flavour of the last few games for Dons, and they continued their trend with an opener after seven minutes, and once again it came courtesy of an own goal. Alex Gilbey and Jon Mellish combined on the left for the skipper to drive a ball with pace across the box, and it clipped a Rovers boot en route into the bottom corner to give the visitors the lead.

Both sides looked to play quick attacking football, but neither were really able to craft many out-and-out chances in the opening 45 minutes. Exploiting wide areas was the order of the day, with Will Collar and Callum Paterson both having half-sights of goal, while Aaron Nemane forced a reaction stop from keeper Brad Young from close range.

At the other end, only a header from ex-Don Ellis Harrison straight at Craig MacGillvray had the home fans half out of their seats.

The second-half was a similarly scrappy and tetchy affair, one which referee Scott Oldham did well to keep a lid on. There were penalty appeals when Harrison took a tumble in the box which lifted noise from the home fans, and though there was a bit of extra pressure which came with it, there was precious little for MacGillivray to really trouble himself with.

Conceding late goals had been a bugbear for Dons boss Warne of late, with both Shrewsbury and Gillingham making life a little more uncomfortable for his side in the closing stages recently. But to counter it, Dons scored three in the final seven minutes to blow Rovers away.

The first came courtesy of Laurence Maguire, who was robbed of a goal last week when it was credited as an own goal. He got the final touch on Liam Kelly’s free-kick with seven minutes to go to make it 2-0, before Gilbey made sure of the result in the 90th minute with a set-piece straight off the training ground.

Hepburn-Murphy had been a surprise inclusion in the squad after injury recently, but he made it four deep into stoppage time when Dons caught the home side on the counter, with Jonathan Leko picking him out in the centre to fire past Young.

Referee: Scott Oldham

Attendance: 7,996 (529)

Bristol Rovers: Young, Sparkes, Kilgour, Mola (Sotriou 54), Thomas, Harrison, McEachran, Southam-Hales (Senior 54 (Bilongo 76)), Chang, Cavegn, Lopata

Subs not used: Moore, Conteh, Howley, Negru

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Maguire, Ekpiteta, Offord, Mellish, Nemane (Leko 90), Collar (Thompson-Sommers 85), Kelly (Crowley 90), Gilbey, Mendez-Laing (Hepburn-Murphy 85), Paterson (Thompson 90)

Subs not used: Trueman, Sanders

Booked: Southam-Hales, Ekpiteta, Gilbey, Kilgour