Paul Warne content to see MK Dons grind out victory against Bristol Rovers

Paul Warne declared himself content to see MK Dons’ battling abilities in a 1-0 win over Bristol Rovers at Stadium MK.

Warne made his comments after a single Callum Paterson goal helped his side to victory over the struggling Pirates at Stadium MK.

Victory lifted the Dons to second in a congested League Two promotion race, and Warne said that he was happy enough to see his side take the win.

He said, “I think we’ll play a lot better but then you have to respect the opposition, but I think we’ll play a lot better.

“We were a lot better Saturday. We needed a second goal that probably would’ve allowed us to have more passes of the ball, that’s the truth, but it seemed like a game that was constantly stopped by long throws everywhere and free-kicks everywhere on the pitch for both teams. It just wasn’t a game for the purists.

“It doesn’t matter how the wins come. I’m not going to be sat on the beach in June going that I wish we’d played with a lot more control on that Tuesday night against Bristol Rovers.

“The best thing was that when you got on numbers and have to defend 8 corners and 20 long-throws into the box, you have to be a very good defensive unit not to let up on any chances. I thought for that, the lads take a lot of credit that they kept a clean sheet under that sort of circumstance.”

One flash point came when Paterson was involved in a confrontation with Rovers’ Joel Senior, which the visitors felt was just cause to show the Dons striker a second yellow or perhaps an outright red card. The referee opted against a card, with Paterson scoring a few moments later.

While Bristol Rovers’ boss Steve Evans criticised the decision and called the referee “incompetent”, the Dons’ boss saw things differently. Warne also reflected he felt that the temperature of the game did calm down.

He said, “The whole thing was a concern. He’d been booked and backed into the player. I watched it back but there’s no elbow to the head, none of what he was being accused of. I was just worried that come second half, any contact with Pato and any histrionics from the opposition could get us in trouble. But luckily, weirdly, there were no red zones with him in the second half, which was good.

“In fairness to him, he’s a contact centre forward so he’s always going to have contact. It just looked like there was a determination to get him sent off, which I don’t like, and I don’t want to lose my player. There was the thought of losing him for 1 or 3 games.”

Warne said he was happy with how his side managed the game after half-time, albeit with a feeling his side could’ve pushed on and grabbed at least an extra goal.

He said, “In the second half, we were a bit more aggressive and front-footed, defended pretty well, but we just let our attacks fizzle out, that was disappointing tonight. We should’ve been a lot more productive in the final third.”