Young Dons goalkeeper Laurie Walker put in a performance to remember as Mike Dove's under-18 side slipped to a narrow defeat.

Called in at the eleventh hour to replace the injured Ryan Flood, Walker made a string of fine saves, including one from a second half penalty to keep Coventry at bay.

But Walker's heroics were not in the midst of a siege on the Dons goal, far from it, as Dove's young guns came so close to coming away with a point.

After only four minutes, striker Daniel Powell found space after great work from Stephane Koffi but his shot on the turn flew just over the crossbar.

Just a minute later, Coventry got their noses in front, a long goal-kick missing a scrambling Joe Howe allowing the opposition striker to raid down the left and pull back for an advancing team-mate who made no mistake from just inside the box.

Having to work hard to cope with Coventry's 4-3-3 formation, the Dons were caught out again as the home side poured forward and had Walker to thank for an excellent save with his feet.

Dean Lovegrove sent a low drive just past the post as the Dons began to get to grips with the home side. With six minutes left in the half, Liam Kelly was picked out by Sam Page's fantastic long pass and turned a shot just wide of the post.

Just before the break, Walker again came to his side's rescue as Coventry were awarded a penalty. Ollie Thorne gave chase as his man escaped his attention and his challenge in the box was deemed illegal by the referee but Walker saved superbly to keep the score at 1-0 at the break.

Dons began to crank up the pressure in the second half as the loss of Koffi and Page to minor injuries did little to stop their momentum. Lovegrove and Kelly went close before Thorne came within a whisker of levelling the game with 19 minutes to play. Howe's inch perfect diagonal cross found the Dons centre-half who planted his header towards the corner but the home goalkeeper clawed it away with a miraculous stop.

Spurred on by their dominanace, Dove's team continued to go for it and were almost caught on the break down Coventry's right, leaving their striker one-on-one with Walker. But such was his performance on the day, the Dons 'keeper had the advantage and made an outstanding save to give his side a chance.

Mike Dove said: "Ryan Flood was only injured in the warm up so for Laurie to come in and do so well at short notice was great. He showed great composure and that is probably the best performance I have seen from his since he has been here. He saved the penalty, made some crucial saves, his handling was spot-on and his distribution was good.

"We struggled slightly against their three in midfield in the first half but we had a chat about it at half time and dealt with it much better in the second. The only thing we were lacking was the final product but that is something we are working very hard on.

"Again, there were no disciplinary problems or bookings which is good to see the performance in the second half was good.

"The result is a little disappointing but even their people were saying we deserved to get something from the game. We are definitely moving in the right direction."

Wednesday sees the Dons under-18s back in FA Youth Cup action as they take on Burnley in the third round. The game kicks off at 7pm at Padiham FC.