Gillingham scored twice late on at MK Dons but had given themselves too much to do as they were beaten again.

MK Dons took a sixth-minute lead after Sam Gale inadvertently diverted Laurence Maguire’s effort past his own keeper. The hosts extended their lead in the second half through Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Callum Paterson before Seb Palmer-Houlden and Jonny Williams pulled goals back for Gillingham.

The Gills were without manager Gareth Ainsworth following his heart surgery the day before. It was left to assistant boss Richard Dobson to lead the team at Stadium MK.

It wasn’t the best of starts as the Gills continued their worrying recent trend of conceding early goals. The defence was opened up on several occasions in the second half before the Gills threatened a late fightback.

Gillingham had lined up with a change of formation as Shad Ogie came in as a third central defender. Aaron Rowe made his first league start of the season as he replaced Max Clark in the team to play as left wing-back.

Bradley Dack and Jonny Smith both missed the trip with Ethan Coleman getting a recall to the starting eleven.

Within six minutes the Gills were behind. A cross from the right was played back into the path of Maguire and his attempt was diverted past Glenn Morris by unfortunate defender Gale.

Maguire was only in the MK team as a late replacement for Scott Hogan, who got injured in the warm-up.

The Gills didn’t have much joy going forward themselves in the opening half, lacking quality with their delivery. Andy Smith had their only effort at goal, getting on the end of a long throw at the near post but missing the target.

The Dons bossed the shot count 8-1 in the opening half but their quality on the finish wasn’t great.

Gillingham had a free-kick and a corner late in the half that they were unable to produce anything meaningful from. They needed a spark in the second half to get back into the game.

Coleman headed over early in the second half from a Jonny Williams free-kick and McKenzie took on set-piece duties with a chance from the edge of the box, but he fired the effort into the Dons wall.

It had been a positive start to the second half for the Gills, shooting towards the away end where 1,375 fans were backing the team in black and gold.

McKenzie was denied an equaliser by goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray’s impressive save as the midfielder looked to convert a cross from Elliott Nevitt.

That positivity from the restart was for nothing as MK hit a second through Mendez-Laing, the forward picking up the ball inside the box from Liam Kelly’s pass and bending a shot beyond Morris.

Kelly should have scored the third goal moments later as the Gills were left outnumbered from a ball out from the back. Mendez-Laing crossed and the Dons midfielder shot wide.

Dobson changed the front two for the Gills with 65 minutes gone, giving Palmer-Houlden and Vokes the chance to try and get the team back into the game.

The Gills were 3-0 down soon after, as their defence were cut apart again, Will Collar making a run into space and a delivering a cross which Paterson got on the end of to slide in a third.

Jonny Williams put a couple of shots over for the bar for the Gills before they got one goal back on 76 minutes.

Rowe jinked his way past his marker to get a cross in and Palmer-Houlden made no mistake from close range to reduce the deficit to two goals.

The goal gave the Gills a lift and the introduction of Max Clark and Lenni Cirino extra energy. The latter headed a cross wide.

The Gills got another goal back when Williams converted a shot at the far post on 94 minutes from Gale’s deep cross, but the Gills had left it too late, and they were unable to get a third.

Gillingham: Morris, Hutton, Ogie (Cirino 76mins), A Smith, Gale, Coleman, McKenzie, Rowe (Clark 77mins), J Williams, Nevitt (Palmer-Houlden 65mins), Andrews (Vokes 65mins). Subs not used: Turner, Akomeah, Khumbeni.

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Kelly (Crowley 83mins), Gilbey, Maguire (Thompson 87mins), Mendez-Laing (Leko 87mins), Paterson, Offord, Nemane, Collar (Thompson-Sommers 83mins), Ekpiteta, Mellish. Subs not used: Trueman, Tripp.

Referee: Darren Drysdale

Attendance: 7,646 (1,375)