Laurence Maguire: MK Dons defender has ‘attributes to score goals’

The victory put Scott Lindsey’s side fifth in the table and only one point behind Crewe Alexandra and Doncaster, who are second and third.

But Maguire admitted their performance against Cheltenham had not reached the standards they set against Swindon.

“We just needed to add more urgency to the game and make it a little bit more scrappy, sometimes you can’t always play the way you want to play and the character shown to turn it around was massive for us,” he said.

“I honestly believe we’ve got a lot to work on (despite the run of wins). That’s what League Two brings, there are no easy games, they put it on us and we just didn’t turn up in the first 20, 30 minutes.

“We want to play the MK way in terms of dominating the ball, passing teams off the park, but sometimes you can’t always do that in football, you’ve got to adapt.”

Maguire kept a pre-match promise to hand over his shirt to a young fan at the end of the game.

“There’s a little boy in the Cowshed End and he’s been holding up a banner all season asking for my shirt. I’ve always said I’d give it to him but just never got round to it.

“I was buzzing to get the winner and it was a great moment to give it to him and make him a happy lad. That’s what we want to do, connect with the fans and hopefully get the club back to where we belong.”

MK Dons are away to Fleetwood Town on Saturday before a busy December with four of their six games at home.