Shaun Whalley’s first half goal made it three successive League Two wins as Accrington Stanley moved into the Play-Off spots.
Whalley struck in the 31st minute to overcome MK Dons, who were under manager Mike Williamson for the first time.
Matt Lowe missed out with injury with Kelvin Mellor back in the starting line-up while captain Seamus Conneely was back on the bench following an injury lay-off.
Mohamed Eisa rifled a strike just over the bar in the opening minute while Stanley’s best early chance came in the 14th minute when Joe Pritchard raced forward but the MK keeper Craig MacGillivray pushed his strike to safety.
Chances were limited but Eisa couldn’t connect with Alex Gilbey’s ball in while, at the other end, Jack Nolan’s long-range strike was narrowly wide.
Stanley opened the scoring on 31 minutes when Pritchard fed the ball to Whalley in the area and he made space for himself and found the top corner of the net.
Eisa had another chance on 40 minutes after getting the ball in the box but chipped it just wide.
Tommy Leigh came on at half-time for Ben Woods, who had picked up a booking.
MacGillivray superbly kept out a point blank header from Whalley on 50 minutes while Max Dean fired inches wide for MK Dons on the hour mark.
MK were pressing without overly testing Jon McCracken while the Reds remained dangerous, Pritchard firing over from long range and a Whalley effort blocked.
Leigh could have scored a contender for goal of the season on 80 minutes when he got the ball on the halfway line and tried to chip it over MacGillivray but it was just off-target.
Whalley dribbled into the area on 89 minutes as he looked to make the game safe but he couldn’t find the target. However his first half goal proved enough for the three points.
Stanley: McCracken, Mellor, Rich-Baghuelou (Gubbins), Hills, Longelo, Whalley, Martin, B Woods (Leigh), Nolan (J Woods), Pritchard, Andrews
Subs: McIntyre, Shipley, Conneely, Adedoyin
Yellow: B Woods, Whalley
Attendance: 1995 (208 MK Dons)