Freddie Sears’ 57th-minute penalty at Stadium MK earned Town a third consecutive 1-0 win in their most convincing performance of pre-season to date. This looked far closer to the ferocious pressing and bright, positive approach Paul Hurst has been preaching and perhaps the only complaint will be that they did not create more clear chances to add to the winning goal, which came about after the impressive Grant Ward had been fouled by George Williams early in the second half.
Hurst’s starting line-up included a fresh face in the form of Ellis Harrison, whose signing from Bristol Rovers was confirmed on Monday.
Harrison started in the centre-forward position, flanked by Grant Ward on the right and Gwion Edwards, making his first start for Town, opposite.
Freddie Sears began in an unfamiliar number 10 role, Flynn Downes and Cole Skuse assuming deeper midfield duties. Jonas Knudsen, making his first appearance since representing Denmark at the World Cup, joined Luke Chambers, Luke Woolfenden and Jordan Spence in a back four underpinned by Bartosz Bialkowski.
Somewhat inevitably, Hurst’s decision to start Martyn Waghorn — the subject of sustained interest from Sheffield United — on the bench was a source of considerable pre-match conjecture.
Harrison was quickly in on the action, seeing a shot blocked inside the area after Ward had reached the ball ahead of a home defender and made ground down the right. The forward, who led an energetic Town press in the early stages, had a second bite of the cherry but curled over from the edge of the box.
The hosts, playing at home for the first time under Paul Tisdale, threatened in the sixth minute when Conor McGrandles found space on the right of the Town box. Edwards, covering adeptly, managed to avert the danger with referee Scott Duncan uninterested in muted appeals for a penalty.
Edwards showed a glimpse of his quality at the other end with a sharp piece of control and turn, rather spoiling it with a wayward final cross.
He was then denied a clear chance at the far post by a timely interception from Callum Brittain after a flowing Town move had ended with a chipped Sears cross.
Town were looking much the sharper and Sears, teed up by the lively Harrison after a well-weighted Woolfenden ball over the top, blazed wide of the near post in the 19th minute.
Dean Lewington was then on his toes to stop Downes concerting Knudsen’s low cross after another bright move involving Sears.
Ward, who had by now swapped flanks with Edwards, flashed a cross-shot wide after a neat Knudsen backheel. At this stage Town were passing and moving with an urgency largely missing in recent seasons although their next glimpse came from a set-piece, Chambers following up his own wayward header with a volley into a defender’s shins.
Skuse was next to threaten in the 33rd minute, seeing a daisycutter blocked by George Williams after Town’s forwards had pressed home keeper Lee Nicholls into a weak clearance.
Three minutes later MK Dons had their first chance and perhaps the best of the half, Alex Gilbey dragging across goal from an angle after a clever run across the Town backline.
But Town quickly regained control and Harrison headed a yard wide of the near post after an accurate cross by Ward before, moments later, seeing another effort blocked after good work by Chambers.
A wayward Ward effort was the last notable action of a half that, in method if not end product, looked far more closer to the kind of intensity Hurst has been seeking.
Town, with Andre Dozzell replacing Skuse at the interval, picked up where they left off and within two minutes Harrison forced Nicholls to parry a firm, curling effort wide after Sears had fed him in the inside-left position. Spence rose highest from the resulting corner but headed over.
Tisdale’s side had noticeably stepped up a yard or two higher since the break but Nicholls was soon called into action again, fielding a deflected Downes drive after some delightful build-up play through the middle from Town.
The hosts’ extra intent came close to paying off when a quick freekick bemused Town and Chambers had to divert Williams’s dangerous header away from goal.
The flag-kick that followed was not properly cleared and resulted in Bialkowski dropping to claim Ryan Harley’s placed effort at his near post.
Town finally gained the lead they deserved in the 57th minute. There seemed little danger when right-back Brittain, positioned under a relatively harmless high ball, looked to steer it back to Nicholls but his bearings went awry and the goalkeeper, positioned to the left of his posts, was stranded as the backpass threatened to spin between them.
Ward was quick to see the chance and looked certain to tap into the empty net before Williams bundled him over.
The MK Dons defender would have received a card of some colour in a competitive game; he was duly punished, though, as Sears sent Nicholls the wrong way in converting confidently from the spot.
Hurst immediately introduced Myles Kenlock for Knudsen, who will have given him food for thought with a composed and constructive attacking full-back’s display.
Shortly afterwards Harrison, an impressive debutant whose all-action style appears to fit Hurst’s strategy perfectly, was replaced by Jordan Roberts. Harrison deserved the applause he received from the 350 Town fans behind Nicholls’ goal.
For the first time in the evening Town then seemed to switch off. First Peter Pawlett, momentarily getting behind Chambers, drilled at Bialkowski from an angle and then one part of a quadruple MK Dons substitution, Aidan Nesbitt, missed an even better chance with 19 minutes left.
Nesbitt only had Bialkowski to beat after making space in the area but was denied by a characteristically fine reaction save, the Town keeper plunging low to parry one-handed.
Town were by now far less of a threat although the game had now predictably been broken up by the number of changes, a fivefold MK Dons switch 14 minutes from time meaning the hosts had swapped their entire XI.
In the 82nd minute Town made only their third substitution with Jack Lankester replacing Sears, who had done his cause no harm with an intelligent performance in his withdrawn role and a clinically-taken penalty. It meant Waghorn, perhaps surprisingly, remained on the bench throughout.
Ward, perhaps Town’s most impressive player over the 90 minutes, saw a late shot deflected narrowly wide and a dangerous Kenlock cross was deflected away as the Blues finished on top.
Hurst will regard this performance as a positive step before West Ham provide opposition a few notches up in quality this Saturday.
MK Dons: Nicholls (Sietsma 76); Brittain (Hancox 76), Williams (Jackson 76), Moore-Taylor (Tapp 76), Lewington (Kasumu 76); Pawlett (Nesbitt 68), McGrandles (Sole 68), Gilbey (Cisse 45), Houghton (Watson 68), Harley (Muirhead 59); Agard (Nombe 68, Asonganyi 84).
Town: Bialkowski; Spence, Woolfenden, Chambers, Knudsen (Kenlock 58); Downes, Skuse (Dozzell 46); Ward, Sears (Lankester 82), Edwards; Harrison (Roberts 63). Subs: Gerken, Emmanuel, Waghorn, Ndaba. Ref: Scott Duncan.