Aaron Wilbraham scored twice as MK Dons cruised back to the top of League 2 with a thumping win over Dagenham & Redbridge at stadiummk.

The big striker weighed in with his first goals since November as Paul Ince's side took advantage of Peterborough's draw with Notts County to climb back to the summit.

Wilbraham followed up his brace of deft headers either side of a Lloyd Dyer strike, by setting up substitute Kevin Gallen for a fourth late in the day as the Dons recorded a fifth straight win.

It takes them above Posh on goal difference with a game in hand going into the two sides' crucial meeting here in six days' time.

And with both sides now level on 78 points, things are poised perfectly for an absolute classic between the two East Anglia rivals on Good Friday.

Admittedly, the Dons will have to be better than they were in the second half today, cruising through the second 45 minutes without getting out of third gear.

But in the first half they were irresistible as the Daggers were cut to pieces.

Without influential pair Alan Navarro and Danny Swailes to suspension and injury respectively as well as crocked winger Mark Wright, Ince's strength in depth truly came to the fore.

Aaron Wilbraham heads the Dons in front on three minutes.

Wilbraham's last goal for the Dons came within 20 seconds of the kick-off against Grimsby and he wasn't far behind that to get the ball rolling here.

Dean Lewington was given as much time as he wanted after being teed up by Jemal Johnson on the left and teased a lovely ball into the danger area.

It was just too long for Colin Cameron, but perfect for Wilbraham, who glanced it past Daggers 'keeper Tony Roberts from six yards.

It was the perfect start for the home side, as Dagenham's plans to make life difficult with a 3-5-2 formation were blown apart.

But whatever formation you play, if you don't react to obvious danger inside your own six-yard box, you're always likely to be in trouble.

Johnson raided past Ross Smith on the left of the area, fired the ball across goal and, as blue shirts stood and watched it, Dyer swept in a second at the far post.

Lloyd Dyer celebrates his goal with creator Jemal Johnson.

It just all seemed a little easy for Ince's men, whose confidence visibly grew with the lead established.

Cameron was constantly looking to get involved through the middle, breaking past Wilbraham from his deep-lying position and giving Dagenham too much to deal with.

While the visitors kept coming, realising they had little to lose by having a go, they never looked likely to trouble Willy Gueret in the Dons goal.

They never looked to have the invention of a Cameron or a Dyer in their ranks and how strikers Ben Strevens and Jon Nurse must have looked on enviously as Dyer provided another for Wilbraham on 37.

Teasing Scott Griffiths with a flurry of stepovers down the right, Dyer finally put the wing-back out of his misery and chipped a cross to the far post.

Again alarm bells seemed to ring for everyone except the Daggers defenders and Wilbraham couldn't believe his luck as he nodded in from a yard.

Keith Andrews presses Mark Arber in the Dagenham defence.

A 3-0 lead at the break would effectively tie up the points but the Dons only got there thanks to some scrambled defending two minutes later.

Gueret uncharacteristically spilled Glen Southam's corner in slippery conditions, and after Lewington had hacked away from danger, Drissa Diallo had to head a dangerous cross from Danny Foster out from under his own crossbar.

Keith Andrews skied a shot from a decent opening and Cameron was denied by Roberts just before the break as it started to look a matter of how many the Dons would get.

But the home side failed to put the Daggers to the sword after the break and even afforded John Still's men some decent chances of their own.

Having watched a shot from Southam curl just past his post moments before, Gueret was forced to produce a brilliant, full-stretch save to deny Griffiths from long range.

It shook the home side back to life and Wilbraham went close to completing his hat-trick just before the hour-mark, turning in behind Mark Arber before firing just over the bar from the edge of the area.

Johnson brought the best out of Roberts with a curling effort two minutes later, but Dagenham kept finding openings as the game became end-to-end.

Jemal Johnson fights to get round Ross Smith.

Strevens was denied by Gueret from close range after Foster's long throw had been nodded down, a chance that was followed by Ince's arrival out of the stands - clearly not happy that his side hadn't put the game beyond doubt.

They duly added a fourth with eight minutes to go - Gallen with a typically classy strike.

Turning majestically on Wilbraham's flick, the former QPR man rolled his marker before firing low past Roberts from 12 yards.

It could have been five in an incredible sequence just before the end when Sean O'Hanlon's deflected shot bounced up off the woodwork and Jude Stirling contrived to hit the same spot of the crossbar from the rebound.

But four was enough to return the Dons to the top as their focus moves to that huge game next week.

A strike force as talented as Peterborough's might not pass up the chances Dagenham created this afternoon.

But they'll have a job containing a Dons side that seems to get more ruthless every week.

MK Dons: Gueret, Stirling, Diallo, O'Hanlon, Lewington, Dyer, Cameron (Livermore 63), Andrews (c), Miles (Gallen 63), Johnson (Baldock 81), Wilbraham.

Subs not used: Abbey, Hadfield.

Goals: Wilbraham 3, 37; Dyer 10; Gallen 82

Dagenham & Redbridge: Roberts, Smith (Sloma 28), Arber, Uddin, Foster, Southam (Moore 68), Rainford, Gain, Griffiths, Nurse, Strevens.

Subs not used: Boardman, Taiwo, Hogan.

Attendance: 9,417

Referee: Mark Haywood (West Yorkshire).