Paul Warne praises MK Dons’ achievement of winning promotion despite title miss

MK Dons head coach Paul Warne admitted he was proud of his side’s achievements of winning promotion despite missing out on the League Two title after their 1-1 draw at Fleetwood.

Ronan Coughlan put the hosts ahead midway through the first half with a brilliant overhead kick, while Callum Paterson levelled with his 16th goal of the season to give the title-chasers hope.

But the Dons saw a number of opportunities wasted by Liam Kelly, Alex Gilbey and Joe Tomlinson as their title dreams slipped away and they eventually finished runners-up.

“I’m proud of what we’ve achieved this season,” Warne said. “It would have been something pretty special but the lads, when it has all settled down, will be pleased with what they have achieved.

“We threw everything we could at it but the football gods didn’t want it. We prepared as well as we could and it just felt like a game too much, we looked a bit tired.

“In isolation, a point at Fleetwood is quite a good point I suppose but when you’re coming for all three points, it’s hard to win when you have to.

“Maybe today we just weren’t good enough to win. I changed the team and we threw everything at it.

“We went 4-3-3 and had three attackers which makes us a little more vulnerable. We just needed that last goal, but today wasn’t our day.

“It would have been a nice cherry on a beautiful cake if we had got the goal, but I won’t cry about it, we haven’t been relegated.”

Fleetwood head coach Matt Lawlor felt his side given themselves a platform to build on next season.

“We were going up against a team looking to be champions and we have just shown what we can do,” he said.

“Some of the players in the squad won’t be here next year and it’s up to us to recruit as best as we can to replace that quality.

“The quality we showed today was very good at times. It was a fair point.

“I am massively proud of the performance today and the performances we have had in the last 20 games. They are a club that dwarf us in many areas, budget being one of them.

“I am really proud with how we matched them and exceeded them in some areas. We have given ourselves a platform to build on for next season.

“From what I’ve seen, I’m very optimistic as to what we can build next year.

“We haven’t won enough this year and have drawn quite a few we should have won. I think we could be in and around the play-offs and that is our goal every season.”