Assistant manager Matt Oakley believes MK Dons can learn from Friday’s pre-season friendly with Northampton Town.
The Dons visited the PTS Academy Stadium last week for a warm-up match against the Cobblers, with the Northamptonshire outfit coming out on top 2-1 despite Kieran Agard’s late goal.
“It's a disappointing result but it's pre-season,” Oakley said in his post-match media address. “I’m not too worried about it - we’re just focusing on what happened in the game, situations, partnerships, those sorts of things.
“We knew Northampton would be a good test for us and that's why we took the fixture. We knew what they're about - they have a big target man (Smith) who they hit balls to so it was a good test.
“The goals [we conceded] were disappointing but we finished the game well with an excellent goal – something we had been working on all week. Baily Cargill also got minutes so there are positives in there."
He continued: “I’ve been through many of pre-seasons where results have"n't gone well but the season has. Pre-season doesn't count for anything - we move on.”
Agard’s goal came courtesy of a cross from Ben Reeves, who has been training with MK Dons for several weeks as he searches for a new club following his departure from Charlton Athletic.
Oakley provided an update on the former Dons midfielder, saying: “Ben has options to go to other clubs. Are we one of them? It’s something we're trying to work on but whether it can be done, we don't know.
“We don't really know him as a staff. The club know him, the fans know him, but we don't know him enough.
"He played well tonight, got an assist, and over the next couple of weeks there will be a decision made.
“If there's something we can do then great because we like what we see but we would like to see more of him.”
