Paul Warne pleased MK Dons found a way to win against Colchester

Paul Warne praised his MK Dons side for scraping past Colchester at Stadium MK.

The only goal of the night came when Matt Macey scored an unfortunate 39th-minute own goal. Aaron Collins’ shot hit a post and the ball went in off the U’s goalkeeper.

MK Dons had missed other chances before opening the scoring, but after they took the lead, they were largely able to keep Colchester from creating opportunities to level.

Victory saw the hosts make it 14 games unbeaten in League Two, with Warne’s side now seven points clear of the play-off places.

Warne was satisfied with the win, and said: “We spent all of our time since Saturday’s game talking about how they play with a back four and how they’d only played with a five once this year, but they played with a five tonight.

“That’s credit to the lads – teams are changing the way they play. Colchester are normally front-footed but they sort of sunk in tonight and I just didn’t think we moved the ball quickly enough.

“Obviously, we got a goal and deserved our lead and then the game changed in the second half.

“We defended well but didn’t have a shot on target, so it probably felt more scary than it actually was, but we won the game and we’ll move on.

“It won’t be one I put on my highlight reel. We looked a bit jaded and I thought they finished the game a bit younger and more sprightly while we ended a bit old and tired, but the lads gave me everything.”

Colchester head coach Danny Cowley refused to blame an injury crisis, saying he was proud of his side’s performance but disappointed to lose.

“It was a fortuitous goal for sure,” he said. “I’m really disappointed but I’m also really proud of the group and the way that we played. I thought we set the game up brilliantly in the first half.

“When you go into games without Harvey Araujo, Ellis Iandolo, Teddy Bishop, Micah Mbick just to name a few, it’s really hard to come to a team with the players they have at their disposal and try to play the way we want to. We were more pragmatic.

“You’re always going to miss your best players, that’s a fact, and we’ve had too many of our best players unavailable this year. Most of them have been contact injuries.

“We can keep moaning and groaning about it but I’d much rather focus on the ones who are here. They were a credit to this club. The way they ran, chased and put their bodes on the line, I was so proud.”