For the first time this season MK Dons had every first team player in training this week as winger Daniel Powell made his long-awaited return to training.
The former academy graduate has been sidelined since July with an ankle injury sustained in a freak training incident just prior to the Dons’ Sky Bet League 1 opener away at Shrewsbury Town.
Powell has been forced to watch from the stands for the last seven weeks but the 22-year-old was finally rewarded on Thursday when he made his first appearance at the Dons’ Woughton on the Green training ground since July.
While Powell may still be a week or so away from returning to full training, and eventually the matchday squad, he is delighted to be back in and around things on the training pitch. Speaking to MK Dons’ YouTube channel, MKDons FC, he said: “It’s good to be back in training although it’s not too nice being back with Damo.
“In all seriousness, I’ll be working with him over the next week or so and then hopefully I’ll be back in full training. It was frustrating the timing of my injury, with it being just before the start of the season. The boys have done well without me, though, and I just can’t wait to get back into it.”
Powell, though, was not the only one who had a smile on his face this week – his manager, Karl Robinson, was equally as delighted to see him training once again.
He added: “People who have seen me could probably tell, I’m in a very good mood. Hopefully Powelly and Bowds could be involved at the weekend, we’ll just have to see after their recovery sessions over the next few days but if it’s not this Saturday they’ll be back for next Saturday.
“They’ll both, definitely, be competing for the bench next Saturday we just don’t want to push them , we don’t want to put them into a big game and for them to break down. The group know, though, that the two are pushing the subs for their places.”
