Goal-scorer Rushian Hepburn-Murphy has his eyes on the League Two crown

Closing the gap to League Two leaders Bromley to five points has put the title within MK Dons’ crosshairs with 11 games to go.

Dons’ 4-1 win over bottom club Harrogate Town on Saturday saw Paul Warne’s side capitalise on the leaders’ 1-1 draw against Grimsby, with the Ravens still due to come to MK1 later this season.

Now 11 games without defeat in the division - their last loss coming on New Year’s Day - Dons could go within two points of the leaders when they play Gillingham at Priestfield on Tuesday night, putting top spot within their grasp.

“We’re playing for something,” said Rushian Hepburn-Murphy. “It’s one game at a time, but we have to come out of the blocks flying, we have to focus on what we do and try our best to get as many points in the final 11 games.

“I came off at half-time so I was checking the other scores, and everyone seemed to be losing, I locked my phone and went off, but I checked at 90 minutes and everyone seemed to score late.

“We’re taking it game-by-game, every point will be important to us. That late goal against Cambridge important to us, the point was vital to get us up into second now.”

Playing in front of 23,000 fans as part of community day at Stadium MK, Dons initially were slow out of the blocks and trailed after 24 minutes when Tobias Brenan gave the visitors the lead.

But Hepburn-Murphy’s endeavour saw Dons level five minutes later before Luke Offord headed the hosts into the lead on the stroke of half-time. Aaron Collins and Ben Wiles added to the score in the second-half as Dons eased to a 4-1 win.

Hepburn-Murphy though said it was harder than it looked.

He added: “It was a bit of a slow start from the boys To be fair to Harrogate, they came flying out the traps. They’re a good team, and the gaffer warned us not to underestimate them. They showed that too. But once we got the goals in the first-half, it was pretty straightforward from there to get the win.

“The gaffer backs us to the hilt and is not shy about telling us how how good we are. Performances though won’t come through if you don’t work hard and that’s the main thing he drills into us. And we did that today. We continued to work hard after going a goal down, and our quality came through. We ended up winning comfortably.

“There was extra expectation because of where Harrogate are, with people thinking it should be an automatic three points but they’re a good team. We had to stick to our plan. I wish them luck in their battle to stay in the league and if they continue to play like they did here, they will do just fine.”