You can only beat what is put in front of you, which Albion did in stylish and emphatic fashion.

But MK Dons reduced the Johnstone's Paint Trophy to something of a joke last night with their disdainful approach.

The difference in the way the second round rivals treated the competition could not have been more marked.

Albion manager Dean Wilkins was able to name an unchanged starting line-up for the first time, the same 11 players taking to the field following Saturday's hugely impressive 3-0 win at Huddersfield in League One.

They were a comfortable two goals to the good by the time new loan signing Dean Bowditch from Ipswich made his debut as a second-half substitute.

MK Dons, on the other hand, made no fewer than eight changes to the side which drew 0-0 at Walsall in League Two on Saturday.

Manager Martin Allen, who watched the first half from the North Stand, included just three first team regulars and a number of untried rookies in his makeshift squad.

The visitors, awarded a bye in round one, only arrived back from a short break in the Middle East on Tuesday night.

Hartlepool and Scunthorpe were fined for breaking the rules of the competition by fielding belowstrength teams in the previous round and MK Dons could suffer the same fate.

Allen has a defence of sorts. Lloyd Dyer and Clive Platt are on paternity leave and Aaron Wilbraham and Gareth Edds are apparently injured but there can be no excuse for naming only four substitutes.

By the time his assistant Adrian Whitbread faced the press after the match, Allen was already on his way home.

Why should Albion worry? Wins breed confidence and they have now won four of their last five games and drawn the other.

Alex Revell helped himself to two goals and the Seagulls are now Cox impresses in Albion stroll within three more victories of a possible final at the new Wembley.

As if the visitors were not already depleted enough, they lost their eight-goal danger man Izale McLeod after only nine minutes. The highly-rated striker was hurt in a typically no-nonsense tackle by Adam El-Abd.

Adolfo Baines, the MK Dons' keeper, had already been forced into action twice.

He blocked a shot by Dean Cox after a poor defensive header by Sean O'Hanlon from Andrew Whing's cross, then held a 20-yard drive by Revell.

Both stops were relatively routine but Baines made a fine, diving save at full stretch in the 11th minute when Cox, found by his close friend Jake Robinson, shot sharply on the turn from the edge of the area.

The Seagulls made their domination count three minutes later with a set-piece straight off the training ground.

Kerry Mayo laid a free kick to Dean Hammond and the skipper's first-time pass released Cox for an angled left-foot shot into the far corner, his fifth goal of the season.

MK Dons, non-existent as an attacking threat up to that point, almost scored a shock equaliser straight from the restart, Scott Taylor running through for a shot which had to be beaten to safety by Wayne Henderson.

Cox, Albion's best player so far this season, continued to be at the heart of the action.

The lead was nearly doubled from another dead-ball situation on the half-hour when Cox had a short corner played back to him by Mayo.

The diminutive winger's resulting cross was met by Revell at the near post and his firm header flashed wide of the target.

The danger for the Seagulls in the circumstances was complacency.

They could have been punished in the 33rd minute when Tommy Fraser gave the ball straight to John Hastings but he fired over.

Albion were grateful to Whing shortly afterwards for blocking a volley from Sam Collins on the line when a corner found its way to the substitute beyond the far post.

Albion re-asserted their authority eight minutes from the break with Cox the instigator once more. His sweeping crossfield pass enabled Fraser to set up Robinson for a right-foot strike which was touched in by Revell, his fourth of the campaign.

Cox's outstanding first-half display ended with a dipping volley from 25 yards which was tipped over by the busy Baines.

It was exhibition stuff from the Seagulls and it stayed that way in the second half.

Six minutes after the restart Whing linked up with Robinson down the right. His cross was brought down perfectly by the ubiquitous Cox who then drove narrowly wide.

Cox ought to have put Albion further in front in the 59th minute when Robinson picked him out with a square ball into the box but he slotted wide from 15 yards.

It was a comfortable situation in which to blood Dean Bowditch and the 20-year-old duly made his entrance after 62 minutes in place of Fraser on the right.

His arrival coincided with a cheeky back-heel over the bar by Revell, who was sniffing smelling salts at the start of the second half after suffering a blow to the face in the first half.

Bowditch soon tested Baines again with a left-foot shot from 20 yards but Revell and Cox were the stars of the show.

The former netted Albion's third on 82 minutes, a right-foot cracker from 25 yards.

The only minor blemish for Albion was that they did not look quite so secure at the back as they have been of late.

They conceded in a sloppy manner within a minute of Revell's strike, centre-half Sam Page heading a consolation for the visitors at the far post from a free kick.

The Seagulls were not quite finished though. Hammond put the gloss on their performance by calmly side-footing in Revell's cross from just inside the area with three minutes left.

ALBION (4-4-2): Wayne Henderson; Andrew Whing, Adam Hinshelwood, Guy Butters, Kerry Mayo; Tommy Fraser, Adam El-Abd, Dean Hammond, Dean Cox; Alex Revell, Jake Robinson.

Subs: Joel Lynch for Mayo (withdrawn 78), Michel Kuipers, Joe Gatting for Revell (withdrawn 88), Dean Bowditch for Fraser (withdrawn 62), Sam Rents.

MILTON KEYNES DONS (4-4-2): Adolfo Baines; Leon Crooks, Sam Page, Sean O'Hanlon, Kieran Murphy; John Hastings, Jon-Paul McGovern, Paul Mitchell, Nicky Rizzo; Scott Taylor, Izale McLeod. Subs: Jamie Waite, Joe Howe for McLeod (injured 9), Sam Baldock for Howe (withdrawn 52), Sam Collins for O'Hanlon (withdrawn 18).