Our Under-18s registered a comprehensive 7-0 victory against their counterparts from MK Dons in a pre-season friendly at the Training Centre on Saturday (July 25).

Marcus Edwards and Ryan Loft bagged two goals each, while Zenon Stylianides, Keanan Bennetts and Charlie Hayford also hit the target as our youngsters continued their summer work in a game situation.

A mixture of first and second-year scholars started the game, with others given an opportunity at the break as coach Kieran McKenna afforded match minutes to many of his players.

We went in front inside 60 seconds as Edwards was tripped in the penalty area and dusted himself down to score from the resulting spot kick.

Loft then applied a controlled finish to Chris Paul’s right wing cross to double our advantage with 16 minutes gone, while Jaden Brown made a vital block at the other end to prevent the Dons from getting off the mark.

Edwards curled over the top after a driving run through the middle by Stylianides before the visitors again showed their intent when Kevin Owusu’s rising shot cannoned off the crossbar just after the half-hour mark.

It was largely one-way traffic, however, and our lead was increased on 37 minutes when Stylianides fired low into the corner, with Edwards showing some tidy footwork to net number four from an acute angle three minutes later.

Stylianides had another effort ruled out for off-side just before the break and it was only a flying save from Dons goalkeeper Andrew McCorkell which prevented Charlie Owens from getting on the scoresheet four minutes into the second period.

Bennetts was denied by the keeper at his near post but made no mistake from Hayford’s resulting corner, turning the ball home from six yards to make it 5-0 on the hour mark.

Two minutes later we added another, with Loft striking low into the net after Edwards was dispossessed, before Hayford won possession centrally and hit the target to complete the scoring seven minutes before the end.

Our Barclays Under-18 Premier League campaign gets underway in a fortnight’s time with a home match against Brighton & Hove Albion. Full fixtures can be found here.