Academy Director Mike Dove reflected on yet another immensely positive week for the Club's youth setup as another youngster made inroads into the first team at the weekend.

Second-year apprentice Daniel Powell earned rave reviews for his debut substitute appearance at Hartlepool United on Saturday, when he became the Club's youngster ever goalscorer in a 3-1 win.

Powell's performance was another major boost for the Academy and comes on the back of two other apprentices seeing first team action this season.

First-year Adam Chicksen made his Football League debut as a substitute on the opening day at Leicester and also saw some match time alongside head scholar David King in the Carling Cup tie at Cardiff.

Powell's outing at Victoria Park, along with a much-improved performance from the Under 18s against Cardiff City on Saturday despite a 2-0 defeat, means the mood is extremely buoyant going into Saturday's FA Youth Cup Second Round tie against Leicester at the Walkers Stadium.

Mike said: "From what I'm told, Dan came on at a critical time in the game - Hartlepool were not sitting back and the game was finely poised so credit to the manager for having the confidence in him to put him on.

Dan Powell celebrates his debut goal for the first team with Mark Wright and Dean Lewington.

"In the Academy we've known about Dan's talent for a long time but Saturday was a massive learning curve for him. You can't recreate coming up against experienced pros in Academy football so he'll be much stronger for having faced the likes of Michael Nelson and Ben Clark.

"I've said it before, but things like that spur the rest of the apprentices on. They can all see the rewards that are attainable under a manager that has been true to his word and shown great faith in young players."

The home defeat to Cardiff was scarce reward for a good performance from Mike's Under 18 side, and was ultimately decided by a phantom goal of Reading-Watford proportions.

Trailing 1-0 and mounting a serious second-half challenge, the young Dons had the wind taken out of their sails when a cross into the box hit part of the framework behind the goal and bounced back into play.

Youngster Adam Chicksen has also seen first team action this term.

Luckless defender Tom Flanagan, keen to get the game restarted, caught the ball and tossed it back to goalkeeper Kurt Fox for the resulting goal-kick, only for a penalty to be given against him for handball.

"It was a freak decision," Mike said. "The assistant thought the ball had hit the post when it had clearly hit the wheel behind the goal. Tom was unlucky, he didn't have the chance to play to the whistle because when do you hear a whistle for a goal-kick?

"It was a shame because the boys had been extremely bright in the second half and genuinely looked like getting back into the game.

"The boys were frustrated, but we've watched the game back and there are a lot of improvements on recent weeks and plenty of positives we can take to Leicester on Saturday."

MK Dons Under 18s take on Leicester City at the Walkers Stadium on Saturday, kick-off 12.00pm. Tickets are available on the day and are priced £3.00 for Adults and £1.00 for Concessions.

U18s v Cardiff (4-4-2): Fox; Williams, Flanagan, Milton, Chicksen; Farden, M. Powell, Dowling, Carter; Collins (Coronado 69), Delderfield.

Subs not used: Harrison, Browne, O'Hanlon, England.