MK Dons Under-23s impressed against an experienced Wycombe Wanderers side in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Tuesday afternoon.
Edu Rubio’s team was made up of a handful of first-team players but mainly the Club’s Under-18s side for the clash at the Chairboys’ training ground.
Wieger Sietsma, Conor McGrandles and Robbie Muirhead got 90 minutes under their belts in a game which the Dons narrowly lost 1-0.
Shortly afterwards, some purposeful play from Sam Nombe set up a chance for Muirhead, who brought a fine save from the hosts’ keeper after shifting the ball on to his right foot.
Despite not being able to level matters, the Dons continued to battle until the final whistle - much to the delight of Rubio.
He told mkdons.com: "I thought it was an excellent run-out - the boys were tremendous against first-team players at a strong League Two club.
"We had a few first-team players out – and they all did very well – but mainly the team was made up of a few professionals and Under-18 players.
"The purpose of the Under-23s was to play real football and that’s certainly been the case today – we’ll learn more from this than the first two games which have resulted in wins."
He added: "The first-team players are helping the younger ones and they are helping the first-team players by putting a good shift in.
"We knew that today wasn’t going to be a pretty game but it was going to be tough - the boys stood up and competed very well which was very pleasing."
MK Dons: Sietsma; Bell, Tapp, Jackson, Hope; McGrandles, Kasumu; Nombe (Bird 78), Logan (Thomas-Asante 62), Trialist; Muirhead.
Unused subs: Jones, Furlong.
Wycombe Wanderers: Trialist-GK, Jombati, Williams, De Havilland, Scarr (Stewart 80), Freeman, Trialist-CM, Eze, Cowan-Hall (Saunders 40), Tyson (O’Nien 60), Southwell.
