Troy Parrott scored his first league goals since September as promotion-chasing MK Dons made it five wins in a row with a comfortable 3-1 victory against Cheltenham.
The Dons are now within goal difference of second-placed Wigan in Sky Bet League One with Latics, who have three games in hand, the next visitors to Stadium MK on Saturday.
After a quiet opening, MK Dons went ahead in the 25th minute when Republic of Ireland striker Parrott planted Matt Smith’s cross into the top corner to end his long goal drought.
The lead was doubled three minutes later as Harry Darling’s long pass over the top of the Cheltenham defence put Mo Eisa through and he finished calmly into the bottom corner.
The Dons added a third goal with five minutes left when Theo Corbeanu found Parrott in space and the Tottenham loanee found the net again with a tidy finish across goal.
There was still time for Cheltenham to grab a late consolation, however, with Liam Sercombe’s hanging cross being met by a thumping header from centre-back Will Boyle.
Speaking after the game, MK Dons manager Liam Manning said he felt Parrott finally got the rewards his efforts deserved.
He commented: “Troy’s worked so hard recently and it’s great to see him get the goals tonight.
“The consistent message from me and the staff has been ‘keep doing what you’re doing’.
“Of course he wants to score goals, he wants to contribute to the team from that aspect, but it’s so much more than that.
“If you look at our front players, they set the tone defensively for us and he’s been outstanding at that.
“The quality he’s got, the goals will come.”
On how his team performed, Manning added: “We knew it was going to be a tough game.
“When they set up like they did first half, it’s challenging to maintain the intensity and the speed we need to move the ball out.
“I thought we showed some real high-level moments of quality with the goals and we showed some moments of sloppiness, but at this stage, you take the three points and move on.”
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