The Accrington Stanley boss felt his side went toe-to-toe with MK Dons

John Doolan believes MK Dons are destined for promotion this season after his Accrington Stanley side were swept aside 2-0 on Saturday.

First-half goals from Ben Wiles and Aaron Collins put the game beyond reach of Stanley, who were playing only their second game of the year after postponements in the last two weeks.

Curtis Nelson made his debut for the club after signing on at MK1 on Thursday, and kept a clean sheet in his first outing, while for Wiles it was his first goal since signing from Huddersfield, and fellow January signing Jay Matete came off the bench to add some late bite to the midfield.

Doolan, who is good friends with counterpart Paul Warne, said he believes Dons are heading in the right direction with their signings thus far, and it showed during the game at Wham Stadium.

“I think they won the majority of their battles,” said the Accrington boss. “They brought Nelson in with his Championship qualities, and he showed that.

“We weren’t getting second contacts and they were putting us on the back foot. But we were competing with very good players, a team who has aspirations of going up, they’re a very good side. You can see where they’re going.”

While Dons did not hit their stride in the opening 45 minutes, it was the clinical nature of Paul Warne’s side which impressed Doolan, speaking afterwards, something which the Accrington boss felt his side lacked.

“We’re obviously disappointed, especially with the two goals,” he said. “The first one I think was a mix-up, should Ollie have come out? In my opinion he should’ve, but we get it wrong and it ends up in the back of the net.

“And the second was a mix-up again at the back. Whether it was a lack of communication or what, it ended up in the back of the net.

“You can’t afford to give a team like that a two-goal head start the way we did. When you give good players those opportunities, they’re going to take them.

“Before they scored, we should have been one, maybe two goals up but we didn’t take those chances.”