Norwich City 4-1 MK Dons: Paul Warne's match reaction

The Canaries stormed out of the traps, netting twice inside the opening seven minutes to take the tie away from the League One newboys. They steadied the contest thereafter, but goals from Ben Chrisene and Andre Brooks saw Philippe Clement's side run out emphatic winners.

Ryan Wintle pulled one back before Brooks restored Norwich’s three-goal advantage, but Warne was candid in his assessment of the gap between the sides.

“I don’t think many of the other Championship sides lost out to lower-league sides, and I think Norwich will go on to have a very good season and I hope we will too, but fortunately we’re in different divisions,” he said.

“I thought Norwich were excellent. They are a top-five Champ team. Maybe higher. The step up from League One to the Champ is pretty ferocious at best. Most of the teams that go up seem to come back down within two years.

“I appreciate the levels are really high, but we also gave them three goals. Better players punish you. The first goal was a screamer. As a learning curve, this is where we want to get to. All their players can run, can handle the ball, play forwards quickly, will hit diags, and we’ve found out how hard it is in the Champ.

“They’re spending nearly £10 million on a winger, and I’m not complaining about that, but this is different gravy.

“Our lads performed but at times got shown up. We’re fortunate that the scoreline was kept where it was because I honestly thought it could have been greater.”

Warne nevertheless found encouragement in his side’s response after the early damage as they prepare for a tricky League One start with matches against Leicester, Oxford and Huddersfield.

“I like that we were 2-0 but we didn’t give up and didn’t throw the towel in. And we didn’t lose the second-half. At 3-1 I thought we might have a bit of a game on but we hit the self-destruct button.

“We should’ve avoided those first two goals, and I don’t think we had those basics right. You have to credit Norwich, they pressed and came after everything. When they attacked, everyone attacked and it was very difficult to play against.”