Match Report | Norwich City 4-1 MK Dons

Sunday, 9 August 2026 08:13

Norwich City cruised past MK Dons and into the second round of the Carabao Cup following an impressive first competitive outing of the season.

Early goals from Mohamed Touré and Anis Ben Slimane, who both paid tribute to the recently injured Ali Ahmed, set the tone for what was a one-sided contest throughout.

Ben Chrisene and debutant Andre Brooks then scored either side of half time and a MK Dons goal, to put the gloss on a convincing afternoon in the Carrow Road sunshine.

For the opening competitive game of the season, boss Philippe Clement named a strong City line-up. There were starts for the returning Pelle Mattsson, summer signing Brooks and the returning World Cup quartet of Kenny McLean, José Córdoba, Slimane and Touré.

And City could not have wished for a better start, flying out of the traps and opening the scoring with just 50 seconds on the clock.

McLean threaded a clever ball between the MK Dons backline, onto which Touré raced before thumping beyond the goalkeeper at the near post.

The visitors barely had chance to reset before the lead was doubled on six minutes.

Touré once again was central to the move, again escaping the attentions of the Dons defence in the right channel. The Australian international was then alert and aware enough to flick the ball into the path of the supporting Slimane, who chopped inside a defender before curling into the far corner.

It was one way traffic for the duration of the half. Harry Darling sent a rasping drive narrowly over the bar before Touré dinked wide when sent in the clear once again by McLean.

But on the stroke of half time a third goal did arrive.

Touré once again made a nuisance of himself, wriggling away from a couple of defenders before bobbling a ball across the face of goal. Brooks eventually collected it, before rifling through a ruck of defenders and into the net via a deflection off Chrisene.

At the start of the second half it would have been four, had it not been for a smart reflex save from MacGillivray, who was alive to keep out Touré’s attempt following a swift counter attack.

The visitors did have an opportunity to reduce the deficit from the penalty spot on 54 minutes, when Callum Paterson was upended in the area. Nathaniel Mendez-Laing took the resulting kick, only to be denied by Vladan Kovačević, who flung himself down low to his right to repel.

Though from the resulting corner, Ryan Wintle lashed a loose ball home to give the 700 away fans a rare moment to cheer.

But any sense of an unlikely comeback were immediately dashed. Brooks nipped in to pinch the ball from Cohen Bramall, before racing clear and coolly slotting under the goalkeeper.

In the final ten minutes McLean stretched to poke a shot at the goalkeeper, but in the end City were never in trouble on what was ultimately a confident and convincing performance from Clement’s charges.

Norwich City: Kovačević; Stacey, Darling, Córdoba, Chrisene; Mattsson, McLean (c), Brooks (Maghoma 61), Slimane (Wright 61), Schwartau (Jurásek 70); Touré (Kvistgaarden 61 (Field 77))

Subs not used: Grimshaw, McConville, Alves, Özcan

MK Dons: MacGillivray, Jones (Ekpiteta 46), Goode, Kelly (Barlaser 57), Nombe, Mendez-Laing (Silvera 57), Paterson (Collins 68), Bramall, Wintle, Wiles (Matete 77), Nelson (c)

Subs not used: Stacey, Crowley, Sanders, Troso

Goals: Toure, Slimane, Chrisene, Paterson, Brooks

Booked: Cordoba, Stacey, McLean, Brooks, Goode

Half-time: 3-0

Full-time: 4-1

Venue: Carrow Road

Attendance: 20,056 (700 away)