Double man Dennis pleased to repay Manning’s faith in Dons win

Matt Dennis thanked boss Liam Manning for having faith in him as the striker came off the bench to score twice in the 2-0 win over West Ham United U21s on Tuesday night.

In a pretty lifeless game between the sides, Dennis’ introduction nine minutes, alongside Dan Kemp and Louie Barry, into the second half brought about a change of pace and direction for Dons.

His first came heading in Bradley Johnson’s cross before the second was fired home from the penalty spot after Daniel Harvie was kicked to the ground battling for the ball.

Speaking afterwards, Dennis, now Dons’ leading scorer with four this season, said: “I'm happy for the gaffer - he's put his faith in me to come off the bench and do what I do, use my strengths, do what I'm good at.

“I'm delighted with the two goals and most of all the win. I feel like it was important to give us a bit of momentum to push on and do more positive things and to win more games.

“You won't see me scoring goals with my head all the time, but I was in the box and finished it off. But there was no doubts about the penalty, I had all the confidence in the world!

“Other than the negative results we've had, the mood is still positive. We come in and train as hard as we can, training has been really good recently. The boys are always keeping their heads high and positivity is always there in the dressing room.”