MK Dons Under-18s recorded an impressive 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday afternoon, in an end of season friendly.
Mike Dove’s side completed their League campaign last week by beating AFC Wimbledon 3-1 but travelled to the West Midlands to take on Wolves, looking to test themselves against Category 1 opposition.
The Dons, though, almost fell behind within minutes of kick-off but thankfully goalkeeper Ben Taylor was on guard to pull off a superb double save having just prevented the Wolves midfielder from scoring with an acrobatic diving stop.
Not long afterwards, it was visitors who came close to an opener through striker Giorgio Rasulo (pictured), whose free-kick crashed against the crossbar after he was fouled on the edge of the area.
Dove’s boys, however, did take the lead just before the half-hour when, after some neat interplay between Ben Grant, Rasulo and Tshimanga, Dele Alli was fouled inside the box – his spot-kick converted confidently into the top right-hand corner.
The Dons then doubled their lead ten minutes later thanks to Rasulo who, at the second time of asking, was able to convert Ben Tilney’s cross into the bottom corner with the outside of his right foot.
At the break, Director of Youth Dove was keen to encourage his players to continue working hard if they were to see out a memorable win, with the hosts expected to come out much different in the second half.
That, however, is exactly what happened and 20 minutes after the re-start Wolves reduced the deficit.
The hosts almost pulled level soon after but trialist ‘keeper Taylor was once again on hand to pull off a smart save at his near post.
Dove then made several changes to the formation late on, in order to see out a hard-fought victory for his Young Dons side.
After the game, he told mkdons.com: “The boys did excellent. They worked extremely hard but, more importantly, they stuck to our philopshy and we deserved the result.
“It was a good test for us to come up against a Category 1 side who were much older than us. We decided to take a squad without a second-year scholar and test them against an Under-18 side in preparation for next year and they managed to compete both mentally and physically.
MK Dons (4-2-3-1): Taylor; Osae, Hickford (c), Tingey, Tilney; Weston, Alli; Rasulo (Daffern 86); Wiltshire, Tshimanga, Grant.
Van der Schoot, Okito.Subs:
