Paul Warne praises MK Dons’ work ethic after beating Gillingham

Paul Warne praised MK Dons for their work ethic as they beat Gillingham 3-2 in League Two.

MK Dons took a sixth-minute lead when Sam Gale diverted Laurence Maguire’s strike into his own net.

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing made it 2-0 with a curling strike before Callum Patterson scored a third with just over 20 minutes to play as he converted Will Collar’s cross.

Gillingham scored twice late on, as Seb Palmer-Houlden converted from close range before Jonny Williams outmuscled his marker to strike during added time.

Dons boss Warne was happy his side adapted in the face of injury setbacks to win.

He said: “It’s a good win against a really good team. We had to defend a lot of set-pieces, crosses and second balls and for large parts we did that really well with a threat, which really pleased me.

“It was a put-together team – we lost Scott Hogan in the warm-up, lost Rushian Hepburn-Murphy yesterday, which was disappointing.

“It’s the first home game we’ve probably gone into where we may be the underdog if that makes sense, so we had to show a different side to us, but our work ethic was really good.

“On another day, I’d like us to have a lot more control of the ball in the second half, as we just give it away, but that’s what pressure and nerves sometimes does to you. I’m still pleased with the result, and on the back of winning last week, winning at home is a good feeling.”

Richard Dobson, who was standing in for Gareth Ainsworth after the Gills boss began a leave of absence following heart surgery, felt Gillingham paid the price for a slow start.

He said: “I thought first half we were a little bit too pedestrian with the ball, slow in the way we played and not purposeful enough. We concede within five minutes and give ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb. We’re playing MK Dons’ game rather than ours.

“The response at the beginning of the second half was excellent but the disappointing thing is in our good spell, we concede. If we’d scored then, we’d have had our tails up and it would’ve been a totally different game. But unfortunately we’ve given away a sloppy second goal.

“Going behind in the last couple of games has meant we’ve had to chase the game rather than be in control of it. We’re almost waiting to see what the opposition are going to bring to the party. I want us to be the aggressors in the game and put pressure on the opposition early on.”