Two considerable slices of good fortune in the first half gave Birmingham a 2-1 win over MK Dons under-18s.

In difficult, wet conditions in front of Blues manager Steve Bruce on Friday, the Dons put in a performance academy director Mike Dove was still relatively pleased with.

In his first match back as under-18 manager after the departure of Adam Sinclair, Mike said his side showed great discipline and real promise against a Championship club.

He said: "Looking at their resources, I didn't think they were much better than us and but for one bad goal we would have got something out of the game.

"We showed good discipline, there were no problems with the referee at all. We talked about it before the game and the players responded well to what was said."

The Dons started the game brightly with Sam Baldock leading a counter attack, his shot tipped wide by the Birmingham 'keeper.

The frantic pace made even the slightest misjudgement fatal and when Stephane Koffi lost his man down the left, full-back Sam Collins was left two-against-one. As the cross was fired in from the right, Ryan Flood did superbly to get a hand to it but just when he needed the bit of luck the save deserved, it popped up to a Blues forward who tapped home.

Not to be over-awed, the Dons came battling back and just two minutes later they were level when Sam Page thumped a header home from from Tom Battams' near-post corner.

Looking likely to go into the break level, the Dons were caught on the stroke of half-time but there was more than a hint of luck involved in Birmingham's winner. A long free-kick from half-way cleared everyone and bounced off the far post into the path of another Blues player, who scrambled home from close-range.

Despite a promising second-half performance where the Dons dominated for long periods, they were unable to create an equaliser.

Following the mutual decision that led to Adam Sinclair's departure last week, Mike Dove thanked the academy coach for his work at the club.

He said: "I'd like to wish Adam well, he's been with us for 18 months and he has worked very hard, not just with the youth team but also behind the scenes in the academy. I'd like to thank him for all his hard work in helping to push this academy forward."

Dons: Ryan Flood, Adam Kent, Ollie Thorne, Sam Page, Sam Collins, Joe Howe, Tom Battams, Tom Williams, Stephane Koffi (Rob Richie-Smith 46), Sam Baldock (Dean Lovegrove 80), Liam Kelly.