Newport County head for the Stadium MK on Saturday (14 Feb) to face Milton Keynes Dons in EFL League Two.
The Dons are in 5th place, and a win can move them into the automatic places of the top three.
Here is an overview of our opposition ahead of this one...
The History
Milton Keynes Dons were formed on 21 June 2004, after Wimbledon F.C. were relocated to the Buckinghamshire city.
The club were placed in League One to replace the former Dons, and played their first competitive game on 7 August 2004, a 1-1 draw with Barnsley.
They were relegated to League Two in their second season in existence, and first reached the play-offs in 2007, losing to Shrewsbury Town.
Former England international Paul Ince took over as manager the following summer, and would lead MK to both automatic promotion from the fourth tier and a first piece of silverware, beating Grimsby Town in the Final of the Football League Trophy.
Subsequently, another former star – Roberto Di Matteo – would lead them to the League One play-offs in 2009, only for them to lose against Scunthorpe United.
Karl Robinson took over in 2010, and would remain in charge for the next six years – successive play-off losses to Peterborough United and Huddersfield Town in 2011 and 2012 followed.
However, the club entered its most successful period in 2014, firstly beating Manchester United 4-0 in the EFL Cup, and then securing automatic promotion to the Championship for the first time in its history.
The club were relegated back down to League One in 2016, and were relegated to the fourth tier in 2018. They immediately bounced back to promotion a year later, and after reaching the League One play-offs in 2022 would once again drop to League Two in 2023.
For the first three years of its existence, Milton Keynes’ home ground was the National Hockey Stadium, which was demolished in 2010. In 2007, the side moved to its current home venue of Stadium MK.
The Form
The Dons lost their first game of 2026 against Colchester United, but have retaliated with an impressive run of form since.
They have won four of the six games that have followed, including a thumping 5-1 victory over Shrewsbury last month.
Last Saturday, they claimed a 3-2 victory away to Cheltenham Town, who they also scored five against earlier in the season.
After losing three home games in 21 days during August and September, they have only lost three matches since, and haven’t tasted defeat at Stadium MK in that time.
The Dons currently occupy 5th position and look good for a play-off spot, but are three points outside the top three and can climb into the automatic places with victory against County.
The next side to visit will be Crawley Town on Tuesday evening (17 Feb).
The Manager
Despite only managing two clubs beforehand, Paul Warne is already very familiar with promotion.
Warne joined The Dons in April last year following the departure of Scott Lindsey, and is entering his tenth year of management.
He had a solid playing career across two decades, playing with the likes of Wigan Athletic, Mansfield Town, Yeovil Town and Oldham Athletic.
However, it was the team he was most associated with – Rotherham United – where he made his name in management, securing three promotions from League One. He also suffered relegation in each season from the Championship.
In September 2022, Warne’s six years with The Millers came to an end after he left to join Derby County, then in the third tier themselves.
After missing out on the play-offs in his first full campaign, he eventually led The Rams back to the Championship in 2024, before being relieved of his duties in February 2025.
Warne had never managed in the fourth division before taking this job, and has a win rate of just under 45 percent.
The Captain
With this being the first ever season the club has played without Dean Lewington, who retired last May, Alex Gilbey is the man who has taken the baton.
This is now Gilbey’s second stint at the club, after previously playing for them between 2017 and 2020.
Gilbey has been at the club for three years, and brings experience with an array of EFL clubs, including a spell with Newport in during their promotion season in 2013.
Born in Dagenham, he made over 100 appearances for Colchester United between 2012 and 2016, including that loan spell with The Exiles, where he was a member of the squad that beat Wrexham in the Conference play-off Final.
He has also played for Wigan Athletic, Charlton Athletic and Stevenage.
Gilbey was made captain on a permanent basis ahead of the 2025-26 season, and has started 30 games across all competitions.
The Ones to Watch
One of the league’s top scorers this season has been Callum Paterson, currently resting on 14 goals.
Patterson, a former Scottish international, signed for Milton Keynes in July 2025, and brings baggage from Heart of Midlothian, Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday.
Last month, he hit his first hat-trick at the club in their 5-1 drubbing of Shrewsbury, and has found the net in his last four league matches.
He was one of the goalscorers in this fixture back in August, the other being Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.
County will also be facing a Newport boy themselves in Aaron Collins.
Collins played 20 games over two years for County between 2014 and 2016, plus a further 10 during a loan spell in 2018, and his younger brother Lewis was a regular part of The Exiles squad for several years.
Aaron scored 20 goals for his previous club, Bolton Wanderers, and underwent treatment for a hamstring injury sustained earlier in the season.
