MK Dons under-18s suffered a narrow defeat at Cardiff City on Saturday.

Anthony Achaempoing's second-half header gave the Bluebirds victory in a tough game that was affected by a strong, diagonal wind.

Manager Mike Dove made a couple of changes to the side for varying reasons and switched to a more flexible formation - 4-5-1 when defending and 4-3-3 when attacking.

The game was also a first opportunity for three of the five apprentices who are being released to impress in front of another club.

Dove said: "We understood that Cardiff were having a look at James Nash as a left-back and it worked out within our plans for him to play there.

"Daniel Powell has played a lot of youth and reserve team football since November so I decided it was a good time to give him a rest. That allowed us to play Daniel Delderfield in attack and make use of our central midfield players in a formation we had done some work on."

The game started at a frantic pace that showed no signs of letting up. With the wind blowing up in a very competitive game, both sides could have done with a bit more composure.

On 26 minutes the young Dons carved out their first decent chance when Liam Kelly's cross was met on the volley by Charlie Shuter but his effort was well saved.

Having been cut by a blow to the face early on, Kelly took another late challenge on 36 minutes that would eventually result in his half-time withdrawal.

Dons 'keeper Laurie Walker was called into action frequently in a spell just before half time where Cardiff forced a string of set-pieces.

But just before the break it was the Dons who nearly took the lead when Kelly's cross from the right was spilled by the home goalkeeper and Sam Collins miss-hit his shot with the goal gaping.

"We competed well in the first half," Dove said, "we kept a clean sheet but we had given away too many fouls. We had to be careful not to get drawn into the scrapping and try to provide a bit more quality."

The second half started brightly, with a wonderful through ball from Nash finding Delderfield bearing down on the goalkeeper only for his shot to fly just past the post.

But on 63 minutes the set-piece problems that haunted Dove's side at Chelsea the week before returned as a free-kick came in from the right and the unmarked Achaempoing headed in.

An already-scrappy, battling game got slightly over-competitive as both sides lost focus at times and Tom Williams had to be replaced after being on the receiving end of a poor challenge.

On 75 minutes, Dean Lovegrove received a second caution for a foul in the Dons midfield and was subsequently sent off.

In fairness, the Dons responded well Ollie Thorne getting on the end of two Sam Collins corners only for it to come to nothing. Mitchell-Coop and Delderfield also caused problems out wide but an against-the-odds equaliser was not to come.

"I was disappointed that some of the younger lads got drawn into the madness that was going on around them. We should have showed more composure and stayed in the correct frame of mind.

"Nashy had his best game in a long time and showed great leadership as captain on the day. He kept his head and wasn't affected by the battle.

"It was a game we could have got something from. We had enough of the game and enough chances but to concede another goal from another free header is disappointing."

Dons: Walker, Mitchell-Coop, Kent, Thorne, Nash, Kelly (Koffi 46), Shuter, Lovegrove, Williams (Powell 70), Collins, Delderfield.

Subs not used: Holmes, King, Fox.