Early Dons: Paul Warne's taking advantage of fast goals

Early Dons: Paul Warne's taking advantage of fast goals

Two early goals helped MK Dons defeat League Two leaders Bromley on Saturday despite going down to 10 men late on showing that a fast start can prove effective.

Not even 60 seconds were on the clock when Nathaniel Mendez-Laing put Paul Warne's side ahead in Milton Keynes with Ben Wiles making it 2-0 in the 16th minute.

Those two goals proved vital when Jon Mellish was sent off and Marcus Ifill netted late on which puts the Dons still within grasp of top spot and most importantly three points above a play-off position.

Early goals have very much been a key part of MK Dons campaign and the fact they have the joint second-best defence in League Two (43 goals conceded with only Cambridge United conceding fewer on 31) means that tends to stick by the end of the 90 minutes.

Of all the teams in 'the 92', MK Dons are by far the most effective starters. Warne's team have scored an aesthetically-pleasing 30 goals in the opening 30 minutes in the league this season – three more than any team in the opening half hour.

Championship side Southampton are closest with 27 goals early on in the game ahead of Lincoln City (23), Coventry City (22), and Hull City (22).

Intriguingly, struggling Leicester City – who are fighting to avoid relegation to League One – have also scored 22 goals in the opening 30 minutes of games.

However, the Foxes may have taken the lead 23 times this season but they have only gone on to win 11 of those games which just shows that like MK Dons, you generally need to be good across the entire 90 minutes to win.