MK Dons were comprehensive victors as they beat Cheltenham Town 5-0 at Stadium MK.
Goals by Jack Sanders, Alex Gilbey and Callum Paterson put the hosts 3-0 in front inside the opening 25 minutes, with second half goals by Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and Aaron Nemane wrapping up the rout for the home side.
Victory means the Dons remain unbeaten in League Two after the first three games of the new season, with Paul Warne’s outfit having picked up 7 points in their first 3 games of the new campaign.
Having suffered a first competitive defeat after losing to Championship Bristol City in the Carabao Cup in midweek, Warne’s attention returned to the league duties and hopes of a first home win after picking up 0-0 draws in each of his first 3 games at Stadium MK since taking over at MK Dons in April.
Visiting Milton Keynes were a Cheltenham team who’d made an opposite start to the Dons, with the Robins having won in the Carabao Cup in midweek but without a point or even a goal in their first two league games.
Having rested players for the game in Bristol in midweek, Warne reverted to a first-choice MK Dons side and they began on the front foot, with Paterson having a shot go wide via a nick off the post and Sanders heading wide from a free-kick.
The hosts then came very close when Paterson’s pass released Hepburn-Murphy, who had a shot denied by Cheltenham keeper Joe Day.
From the resulting corner, however, MK Dons scored for a ninth minute lead. Joe Tomlinson’s delivery picked out Luke Offord, who headed the ball back across goal for Sanders to glance the ball home via a post.
That was the Dons’ first home goal under Warne, and it would quickly be followed by the second. Six minutes later, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing exchanged passes with Paterson before laying it off to Gilbey. The Dons captain received the ball a few yards outside the box and placed a pristine strike beyond Day’s reach and into the top corner.
With the exception of a wayward Ethon Archer strike, Cheltenham struggled to create much going forward. MK Dons still had chances for more, with Will Collar narrowly flicking a shot wide.
The hosts then managed to score their third goal. A Liam Kelly free-kick wasn’t cleanly gathered by Day and the ball bobbled into the path of Paterson, who lashed a strike into the back of the net to put the Dons further ahead.
MK Dons continued to press for more with Offord heading wide at a corner before Paterson narrowly failed to meet a cross. In-between these two chances, Cheltenham had a half-chance as George Miller had a half-chance with a deflected shot saved by Craig MacGillivray.
After half-time, Cheltenham did have a few moments going forward, with Archer rushing a strike wide after Sanders had failed to clear, while substitute Liam Kinsella also finding the stands with a strike.
The single best chance for Cheltenham came when substitute Josh Martin, who once played as a loanee for MK Dons, saw a free-kick well stopped by MacGillivray. A rebound by Arkell Jude-Boyd was also blocked in the same move.
But not long after that, the Dons shut the door on any Cheltenham comeback aspirations with their fourth. A swift break saw Paterson play through Hepburn-Murphy, who was able to fly forward to the box before playing a crisp strike into the goal via the post, in the process scoring his first MK Dons goal.
Warne duly opted to rotate his Dons side, making changes and two of the subs would combine to make it 5-0 with ten minutes of the 90 to go. Jonathan Leko’s blocked cross fell kindly for Nemane, who in turn placed a firm strike into the bottom corner, with the goal being Nemane’s first since joining MK Dons from Notts County a year ago.
Cheltenham would see Archer booked for diving, while Sanders volleyed a late effort wide for the Dons to grab a sixth.
But 5-0 still represented a fine afternoon for the hosts, who picked up their biggest home win since a 5-0 win over Walsall at Easter 2024. MK Dons will seek to continue their unbeaten start on Tuesday, when they take on Warne’s predecessor Scott Lindsey and his Crawley Town side in Sussex on Tuesday.
MK Dons: MacGillivray – Jones (Ekpiteta 75), Sanders, Offord, Tomlinson – Kelly, Collar (Lemonheigh-Evans 75) – Mendez-Laing (Nemane 68), Gilbey, Hepburn-Murphy (Leko 68) – Paterson (Hogan 68)
Subs not used: Trueman, Thompson
Goal: Sanders (9), Gilbey (15), Paterson (25), Hepburn-Murphy (60), Nemane (80)
Booked: Collar
Cheltenham: Day – Wilson, Bennett, Mazionis (Kinsella 36) – Power, Broom (Tustin 89), Young (Martin 55), Jude-Boyd (Harmon 89) – Archer – Miller (Bickerstaff 55), Thomas
Subs not used: Diallo, Harmon, Wilcox, Tustin
Booked: Mazionis, Jude-Boyd, Bickerstaff, Archer
MK Dons Head Coach Paul Warne was pleased with his players’ efforts as they recorded a 5-0 win over Cheltenham Town at Stadium MK.
Warne spoke after a comprehensive home win, with Jack Sanders, Alex Gilbey, Callum Paterson, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy and Aaron Nemane scoring the goals.
The result was the Dons’ biggest home win since a 5-0 home win over Walsall at Easter 2024. It was also the first time Warne had overseen a win at Stadium MK since taking charge, having previously overseen 3 goalless draws since taking the job at the end of last season.
The result saw Warne say he was happy the team kept going in order to rack up the goals and to keep Cheltenham from becoming the first team since Warne took over to score an away league goal at Stadium MK.
He said, “It’s really pleasing. Another clean sheet, which was always a fear that the longer the game went on that if they get a chance and score, we’d be disappointed if we lost our clean sheet record today.
“So I’m really pleased. I thought we started well. Pato hit the post early, which would’ve been a great start to the game. Sometimes in them games, you just need the first goal and the game becomes more comfortable.
“We’d seen Cheltenham play in their previous games pretty resolute and they got a good win in midweek, so we knew they’d be pretty confident. We just moved the ball forward really quickly and made really positive passes forward to create chances. As a group, we’re pretty pleased and now we need to go again in 3 days time.”
Warne also commented that he felt happy the way the team played was closer to what he was looking for as an overall package.
He said, “It looks a little more like my team as we’ve got pace in it. I always want to try and play forward, put crosses in, get touches in the penalty box and shots. That’s how I want to play and how I think the modern game should be played in my opinion.
“We’ve got a really good athletic group and in the way the scoreline went, I had full trust in my bench so could make changes and give players a rest to go again. It was a pretty perfect day – no injuries, no issues and players coming back.”
Police have released two e-fit images in connection with an assault in Milton Keynes.
The incident occurred on Thursday 26 June between 10am-11am on the V4 Watling Street, adjacent to Kiln Farm.
The victim, a man in his late teens, was on a bicycle when a white Ford Transit Connect van has pulled close to him and the passenger of the van tried to push the victim off his bike. The van stopped and both the driver and passenger got out and assaulted the victim.
Thames Valley Police released two photographs of e-fits fitting the profile of two suspects into what happened.
The first offender, the driver, has been described as a man aged between 30 and 40 and about 6ft 2 ins tall. He was wearing a black hooded top and black cargo trousers.
The second offender, the passenger, was a white man with blonde hair, a beard, and a slim build. He was around 5ft 8 ins tall. He was aged between 25 and 40 and wore a dark hooded top and dark jeans.
The victim required hospital treatment and has since been discharged.
Investigating officer, PC Reece Carroll, said, “We are appealing for anyone who recognises the men in these e-fit’s to come forward.
“Additionally if anyone has any further information and witnessed this incident we would also ask them to get in touch.
“Anyone with information should call 101 or make an online report, via our website, quoting 43250317989.
“Alternatively, for 100% anonymity, you can also call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
Milton Keynes City Council have voiced their delight with school attendance figures showing an increase in primary school attendance in the city.
Figures on school attendance rates released by the Department for Education show that primary schools in Milton Keynes are the 6th best in the country (out of 151 local authority areas) with fewer absences than schools in all neighbouring areas.
Primary schools help to build the skills that children will use throughout their time at school. Research published earlier this year shows that children who did not miss a day in Year 6 were twice as likely to meet expected standards in reading, writing and maths than children who missed between 10% to 15% of the year.
Milton Keynes City Council works with the city’s 93 primary schools to monitor attendance and intervene where needed, for instance if extra support is needed by a family to get back on track.
Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Joe Hearnshaw, said, “This is a great result as every moment in school counts. The more a child is in school, the more likely they are to learn, and reach their potential. It’s also a really important route to monitor children’s safety and wellbeing.
“I’d like to thank our primary school community, and the teams at the council who support MK schools, for achieving this brilliant result.”
Whitehouse Primary is one of ten local primary schools with an overall attendance rate above 95%.
Headteacher of Whitehouse Primary School, Linda Kelly, added, “We’re proud to be recognised for our attendance – it’s a credit to our dedicated team and our strong partnerships with families. By putting relationships first, supporting barriers to attendance, and keeping communication open, we’re helping every child to make the most of their school journey.”
Northampton are out of the Carabao Cup after a 1-0 defeat by Championship outfit Southampton.
The game’s only goal came through Matheus Fernandes, with the Portuguese midfielder scoring just after half-time to decide the contest for Will Still’s outfit.
A Cobblers side featuring 5 changes from the weekend’s draw with Bradford City had some decent early opportunities, with Cameron McGeehan denied by home keeper Alex McCarthy and Jordan Willis having a shot blocked on the line by Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
Southampton began to offer more as the half continued. Yuri Sugawara and Damion Downs were both guilty of failing to connect with opportunities when well placed.
The Saints duly took the lead in the opening three minutes of the second half, as Cameron Archer picked out Fernandes, and the midfielder duly beat Ross Fitzsimons in the Northampton goal.
The visitors then came close to making it 2-0, as Sugawara saw a strike hit the post.
But as it was, the hosts were unable to find the opportunities to equalise, as they ultimately slid to defeat.
Defeat means Northampton’s focus now switches to their league programme, which continues on Saturday when they travel to play Stevenage in their third game of the League One campaign.
