MK Dons Under-18s made it four wins from five to start the 2022/23 season courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Northampton Town.
Second-half goals from Kyle Boyce and Josh Adeopoju secured victory for the Young Dons, who sit third in the EFL Youth Alliance South East table, three points adrift of leaders Luton Town.
It took until the 75th minute for John Bitting’s side to break the deadlock when, after working the ball from back to front and right to left, Boyce eventually delivered into the area.
His cross flew straight for goal, however, and the Northampton Town goalkeeper wasn’t able to deal with the delivery, fumbling across his goal-line to hand MK Dons the advantage.
Six minutes later, the Dons were able to double their advantage. Joel Anker and Phoenix Scholtz played a one-two down the left channel before the former chipped a cross onto the head of Adepoju.
His initial header was saved but the striker reacted quickly to pounce on the loose ball and hammer home from close range.
Reflecting on the result, Lead Professional Development Phase Coach John Bitting said: ““I was really pleased with the boys as a collective. They were extremely resilient, really organised and very aware of what was going on out of possession as well as in possession.
“We knew what was going to from Northampton, with their style and how they play, and, credit to the boys for how well they took on the information we gave them, because there weren’t really any surprises for us.
“In the second half we got better in terms of what we were doing on the ball. We were creating overloads and we played a lot of the game in the attacking third.
“Our end product let us down a little bit but we kept on going and we ended up getting little bit of luck with the first goal. The second goal, though, we worked it well into a wide area.
“It was a really pleasing performance and I was pleased to see the us continue to put in the hard work and continuing with how we've started this season.
“This is a good development experience for them, having won four out of five games. It’s unknown territory for us over recent years but this group are growing slowly and they’re trying as hard as they possibly can to put into practise in games the things that were asking from them – they are getting their success from it as well.”
MK Dons: Stacey, Wood, Bombo, Stirland (Scholtz 60), Anderson, Waller, Mann (Boyce 70), Tripp, Blennerhassett, Anker, Adepoju.
Goals: Boyce (75), Adepoju (81)
