MK Dons made it 4 League Two wins in a row after a 3-1 home success against Crewe Alexandra.
Will Collar and an Alex Gilbey double won the match for Paul Warne’s home side as they built on their recent form to win at Stadium MK. Crewe did grab a consolation through Louis Moult with the final kick, but the Dons had the cushion to pick up the points.
The recent streak means that MK Dons continue their flight up the League Two table, with Warne’s outfit up to second after 13 games.
Having scored four away at Bristol Rovers in their last outing to make it 3 wins in a row, the Dons were now looking to continue their streak. Standing in their way were a Crewe side who were aiming to bounce back from defeat at home to Bromley last time out, and who would’ve leapfrogged the Dons in the table with an away win.
MK Dons began the match on the front foot. Liam Kelly saw an angled drive denied by Crewe goalkeeper Tom Booth, and from the corner, Booth produced another stop to deny Callum Paterson’s header.
The home side generally looked likelier to produce something in the early phase of the contest, although Crewe nearly stung the home side. Former Dons loanee Emre Tezgel was able to battle his way through the crowd before his pass teed up Owen Lunt, who had a first time try saved by Craig MacGillivray.
Not long after that, it was the Dons that scored first. Paterson’s cross took a deflection off former Crewe man Luke Offord that saw the ball fall for Marvin Ekpiteta. The defender in turn teed up Collar, who drilled a first time snapshot that went through the crowd into the net.
Crewe did cause the Dons some problems in response. Former MK loanee Tommi O’Reilly and Max Sanders both saw strikes from outside the box blocked, while the lively Tezgel was causing the home side’s defensive ranks issues.
But the visitors were struggling to create chances and were duly punished when they fell 2-0 down in the final minutes of the first half. The Dons won the ball high-up the pitch and attacked quickly, with Paterson feeding Nathaniel Mendez-Laing. His cross duly took deflections off both Aaron Nemane and Crewe’s Conor Thomas before reaching Gilbey, who swept a first time drive into the back of the net.
MK Dons would then add a third goal just before the hour. A direct ball down their right evaded Mickey Demetriou’s attempted interception and released Nemane. It looked as though the Dons’ right wing-back had taken too long when he drew out Booth but didn’t shoot, but then Nemane spotted Gilbey and teed up the Dons’ captain, who duly blasted his second of the match into the back of the net from the edge of the box.
The hosts had a scare when MacGillivray required treatment after a collision with Ekipteta, but he was able to continue as the game was duly a more stop-start affair with both sides making multiple subs.
Crewe sub Callum Agius would miss the target twice when well-placed, before home sub Rushian Hepburn-Murphy had a strike kept out by Booth in the Crewe goal.
The visitors would grab a consolation in the tenth minute of stoppage time, as from the last act of the game, MacGillivray was unable to reach a Crewe corner and Moult’s strike was bundled in despite attempted interventions by two Dons defenders on the line.
But it was the home side that took the points, with Warne’s side able to savour the reward of three extra points ahead of a trilogy of away games in league and FA Cup.
MK Dons: MacGillivray – Offord, Ekpiteta, J. Sanders (Thompson 77) – Nemane (Tomlinson 63), Collar, Kelly (Crowley 77), Mellish – Gilbey (Thompson-Sommers 86) – Paterson, Mendez-Laing (Hepburn-Murphy 77)
Subs not used: Trueman, Leko
Goal: Collar (23), Gilbey (41, 57)
Booked: Nemane, Offord, Paterson, Collar
Crewe: Booth – Billington, Connolly, Demetriou, Hutchinson (Finney 81) – Lunt (Moult 45), Thomas (Holicek 67), M. Sanders – O’Reilly, Tezgel, Lankester (Agius 67)
Subs not used: Waller, Rankine, Golding
Goal: Moult (90+10)