The Scot’s treble, along with late strikes by Luke Offord and Dan Crowley, helped MK Dons climb into the automatic promotion spots, with Thomas Sang’s late strike just a consolation for the struggling Shrews.

MK Dons opened the scoring after eight minutes. Ben Wiles’ long pass released Paterson, who duly fired a low shot into the bottom corner.

Three minutes later, Paterson scored again. Luca Hoole fouled Alex Gilbey in the box and Paterson scored the resulting penalty.

In the 34th minute, Paterson achieved his hat-trick as he received Wiles’ pass and curled a shot past away keeper Will Brook.

The Dons’ fourth came in the 81st minute as Offord scored the rebound after Aaron Collins hit the post.

Sang scored a fine long-range strike two minutes later, but it was just a consolation for Shrewsbury, who duly conceded a fifth in the 88th minute when Dan Crowley’s deflected strike found the net.