MK Dons set new club record under Warne | OneFootball

MK Dons have made keeping clean sheets look easy under Paul Warne. Six games into his reign, and not a single goal conceded - a new record at the club.

The sequence began late last season with a win over Newport County and has rolled seamlessly into this campaign, starting with a 0-0 draw against Oldham Athletic and followed up by a comfortable 2-0 victory away at Barrow AFC.

Pre-season saw tweaks to both personnel and formation, yet the defensive solidity hasn’t shifted an inch. Goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray is yet to pick the ball out of his net, thanks to a defence that’s barely given opponents a sniff. Against Barrow, they didn’t face a single shot on target, while Oldham’s only effort worth noting was a tame second-half strike at Stadium MK.

Speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio after the Barrow win, Warne said: "Obviously Craig's got the gloves and he comes for crosses, which I love. I keep encouraging him to come for everything and if he drops one and it goes in, that's on me, not on him.

"He's been outstanding but he's been marshalled by the backline and it goes throughout the team, we try and press, try and defend as high as we can so we don't have to defend a lot (near our box).

"The lads know how hard it is to create chances when we have the ball and we have to make it hard for the opposition, so everybody at the club should be really proud of the clean sheets and it's a good building block for success."

Warne’s Way

Warne’s transfer business has been just as eye-catching as his defensive record. The arrivals of Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Aaron Collins, and Callum Paterson, all dropping to League Two, show clear intent to challenge at the very top.

Sir Alex Ferguson once said, “Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles,” and Warne appears to have taken that mantra to heart. The MK Dons boss already boasts four promotions from League One - three with Rotherham United and another with Derby County in 2023/24.

In his most recent two promotion seasons, Warne’s sides topped the clean sheet charts across England’s top four divisions - racking up 22 shutouts with the Rams, and 23 with the Millers in 2021/22.

It’s still early days in League Two, but if MK Dons keep this defensive discipline and combine it with the attacking talent at their disposal, they’ll be right in the mix for promotion come May.