Paul Warne was content to see MK Dons pick up a point on a day when he felt his side didn’t play well enough but felt they could’ve offered more.

Warne reflected on proceedings as MK Dons drew 1-1 in their final game of 2025. Callum Paterson’s equaliser cancelled out Tom Iorpenda’s first-half opener for the visitors, with the result seeing the Dons remain 4th in the League Two table.

Speaking afterwards, Warne said he felt that his side’s first half performance wasn’t quite what he liked but was content to still get a reward.

He said, “My overall feeling was that I think we can play a lot better than that. Credit to Notts County, they made the game really difficult for us.

“I’ve said it in parts before but I don’t think we had enough personality on the ball tonight. But I thought the lads dug in second half, we were a bit more aggressive, won more a bit more of the duels and looked a bit more like us.

“It’s just a pity the last 5, 6, 7 minutes fizzled out. It was all free-kicks and corners at our end.

“It felt like one of them nights where one of the teams might steal it on a set piece but we didn’t get ourselves in any position to do that. A point when you’re not playing well, I think we have to take that and move on.”

A game that saw each side register 3 shots on target during the 90 minutes was one that Warne said felt very tight, and he said that he felt his side could’ve offered more during the contest.

He said, “Obviously, when I’m on the side of the pitch, it’s harder for me to be completely objective because you’re emotionally connected to the game. But when I spoke to the coaches and we looked at the stats, there wasn’t really anything in the game. I just wish we were a little bit more like ourselves.

“It’s my fault – I possibly should’ve made more changes with fresh legs and we just looked a bit jaded. Maybe tired bodies, tired minds, but we just didn’t look as zippy as normal.”

The Dons ‘response to falling behind in the final stages of the first half was to take off three players, and Warne said he felt his side’s display in the first half was poor enough that he could’ve chosen any of his charges to make way.

He said, “It’s very easy being a manager at half-time when you’re not playing very well – you can make changes and I could’ve taken any one of the players off really. I didn’t think anyone was really on song. I just asked for a bit more of a response, and then second half, I thought we were a bit more aggressive and playing forward a bit more.

“We had a bit more impetus and to get the goal was a bonus. At times, I thought we’d go on to win it but the game fizzled out, Notts County seemed to have a grab on the game at the end and obviously, being the home side, you want to finish with your fans thinking you’ll go for it, but it wasn’t to be. We’ll just take a point and move on to the next one.”