John Bitting’s boys returned to Stadium MK with a point following their goalless draw against EFL Youth Alliance Merit League Two leaders, Northampton Town.
MK Dons Under-18s prepared for a tough test in their final league game of the season as they travelled to Northampton to face a team that hadn’t suffered a defeat within this season’s Merit League Two campaign.
Although a difficult test, the young Dons stood toe-to-toe against top of the league as they earned a point for their efforts.
However, the Cobblers replicated that unbreakable rear-guard at their end of the field, which ultimately saw a goalless draw at the conclusion of the clash.
“I thought we were excellent today.” Lead PDP Coach John Bitting explained following the result. “Defensively we were brilliant and really hard to break down.
“We were very composed, organised and we played some good football throughout the game. We created opportunities during the first-half, but we didn’t manage to get bodies forward which reduced our chances to score goals. Evidently, that’s a reason why the match finished 0-0.
“I thought we dominated - we were excellent in terms of our style of play against a team that had won the EFL Youth Alliance Merit League Two division.
“We continued our strong display during the second-half, and within the final few minutes we had multiple consecutive attempts at goal, which forced their ‘keeper to make four brilliant stops.
“Overall, for the last game of the season, I was really pleased with how the game ended. The plaudits have to go to the players for doing everything correctly and sustaining that competitive mindset even at the end of a very long season.”
This fixture saw the end of MK Dons Under-18’s 2022/23 league campaign as they finished sixth within the EFL Youth Alliance Merit League Two table.
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MK Dons: Sandford, Clark-Anderson, Boyce, Stirland, Anderson, Wood, Bombo, Leiws-Burgess, Anker, Tripp, Daffern
Subs: Troso, Lucas, Adepoju, Scholtz, Silver
