Deadline day signings are ready to play for Dons straight away

All three of MK Dons’ transfer deadline day signings could go straight into the side, according to head coach Liam Manning.

It was a hectic end to the window on Monday for Dons as they picked up the signatures of Matt Smith from Manchester City and Dan Kemp from Leyton Orient, while landing Aston Villa youngster Kaine Kesler on loan until the end of the season.

The busy end to the window echoed a busy month for the club, with nine player departing, and six new ones coming in.

Theo Corbeanu, Jamie Cumming, Conor Coventry and Connor Wickham have already made a handful of appearances each siunce signing in January, and Kesler, Smith and Kemp are all set to play a part too, with Manning impressed by what he saw in their first day of training on Tuesday.

“They’re all fit, in a good spot and ready to go,” said the head coach. “They’re joining a team that is doing well, but we’ve just lifted the level with new guys who want to prove themselves.

“Hopefully it gives us another bounce and having in-house competition is really healthy. They’ll play a big part between now and the end of the season.

“We’ve done some really good work, I’m excited by the players we brought in. They’ll add to the culture and will add qualities I don’t think weve had. It has been an extremely stressful but exciting.

“It helps the first four coming in and the group has make it smooth to transition. And we have to do that with the three new lads to keep the team in a good spot.”

Just as important as adding to his ranks, Manning said keeping hold of Scott Twine and Harry Darling was crucial for Dons’ promotion push too.

Rumour swirled around the pair throughout the month, but now at Dons until at least the summer, Manning said he will drive the pair to continue improving this season in Dons’ fight for promotion.

He said: “They’re two lads who have done terrific this season. Their levels have been extremely high. I’ll be telling them to keep that up, and improving too. We’ll keep pushing and squeezing them.

“There has been a lot of noise around them, which I see as a compliment to the team as well as individually, but as you find in this game a lot of it is just hot air. The fact we know we’ve got them until the end of the season at least is massive for the team.”