MK Dons have the last laugh with a 4-0 win after some Bristol Rovers fans disturb opposition players at their hotel hours before.
Alex Gilbey went viral this weekend in footage where Bristol Rovers fans tried to wake up those in the Dons’ hotel rooms ahead of the League Two fixture.
He was pivotal throughout the game, forcing an own-goal by Alfie Kilgour in the 8th minute and scoring the third in the 90th.
Laurence Maguire added the second goal, and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy sealed the rout with a fourth in stoppage time.
The result moved MK Dons within a point of the top three, while Rovers are 14th.
State of these Bristol Rovers fans 😂😂#mkdons pic.twitter.com/JAcnuvwu1d
— Chris (@ct1203mk) October 11, 2025
No sleep? No problem for Alex Gilbey! 😅#EFL | #SkyBetLeagueTwo pic.twitter.com/oO2gZyhdC9
— Sky Bet League Two (@SkyBetLeagueTwo) October 11, 2025
Up the Dons 👏🏻❤️ pic.twitter.com/dcT4lKK37l
— Alex Gilbey (@agilbey8) October 11, 2025
Gilbey said: “It’s a statement win, it’s another win, three in a row and we have to keep rolling,” he said. “Over the years, this has always been a hard place to come. And it wasn’t easy out there, despite what the score says. We had to really be on it the whole time.
“Wins breed confidence, and today felt like a performance of a team who won two in a row. It’s great to win three, and now we’ve got to try and win four.
“It was nice to put a full game performance together. I think it’s the first time this season we’ve scored goals late on, and it’s one for the fans to enjoy.”
For a second game, Dons were left questioning the scorer after Gilbey’s seventh minute shot was deflected into the net by a home defender. There were no doubts about his second goal though, but while it looked like one, the captain said it was not a move he and Liam Kelly had worked on before.
He said: “We didn’t work on it, we just saw an opportunity. Me and Kells locked eyes and it’s come off. When someone gives you a goal like that, it’s always nice to give them credit. It was just off the cuff. Wealo (coach Tom Weal) always gives us permission to see things, and if we can see it we can attempt it and this one has come off.”
And though he might not get his name on the opener, what would be his fifth goal of the season, he said: “We keep saying it doesn’t matter who scores because there is so much talent and ability in the squad, we will score. The ball is in the net, who cares, we roll our sleeves up and crack on.”
MK Dons boss Paul Warne said: “I wasn’t 100 per cent happy in truth, I thought first half we wasted opportunities and we could have made life easier for ourselves.
“Once you get the second goal it helps. Once we did and the subs I could make…bringing on Dan (Crowley), Rush (Hepburn-Murphy), Leks (Jonathan Leko), Nath (Nathan Thompson) and Kane (Thompson-Sommers)… I am blessed and that is the joy when people start coming back from injury.
“We looked stronger on the pitch but we’ve got it off the bench. That was as good an away performance as we’ve had all season.”
He added: “I know how hard it is to play Darrell’s teams. They’re well coached, well motivated, so it’s a really good win.
“Over the last four or five games they are second or third on form so we knew it would be really difficult.”
Bristol Rovers’ Darrell Clarke said: “It was a shocking day for us. Some of the goals we gave away were very, very poor with a couple of own goals in there.
“I think it’s key that when we’ve had such a disappointing afternoon, that we get back on the grass as quickly as we possibly can to put those things right.
“Words are cheap after a performance like that, I just think we were miles off it with and without the ball – I need to look into that to see why that was the case, but I also don’t want this to derail what has been a good base so far.
“I’ve been saying it week in, week out, but there’s a lot of work to be done with the group. And sometimes you get a day like this where you’ve got to take your medicine and regroup.”
