Players were pushed to their limits in Dons’ pre-season training programme

MK Dons’ coaches pushed the players to their physical and mental limits over the last five weeks in order to get them ready for the new season on Saturday.

One week shorter than a normal pre-season campaign, Dons’ five-week programme has seen the club play a handful of games, spend a week training in Ireland and integrate 12 new players - albeit two ofthem were loanees from last season - into the fold.

Having had just four weeks off between the final game of the season and the return to training, head coach Liam Manning said he, Chris Hogg, David Wright and Lewis Price as well as the support staff at the club were able to push the players to their limited during their pre-season programmes, meaning they head into the season opener with Cambrigde United on Saturday as prepared as they can be for the rigours of a League One campaign.

“You want to test them physically and psychologically early because you have to do that in League One,” said Manning. “We've taken them to those places. The players have been great, dug in, haven't moaned and put the graft in.

“They stick together, push each other on and ultimately congratulate each other afterwards as well. It's a good feeling to know you've all put in a good shift.

“The staff have been terrific. We've got some tremendous people here who are willing to go above and beyond what's required to do their jobs. We've demanding, we're in at 7am and leave at a similar time in the evening.

“There's a lot of work that goes into the programme, from filming sessions to analysing physical and tactical data, the detail that goes into planning and maximusing outcomes.

“I'm really grateful for the people we have around here, and we have people who are rolemodels to the players as well in terms of behaviours, with their intensity, that obsessiveness, the drive everyone has.”