Promising Middlesbrough striker 'in a lot of pain' after MK Dons debut

Teenage striker Sonny Finch was left in a lot of pain after making, and then limping out of his MK Dons debut on Monday night.

The Middlesbrough loanee made a decent first impression after replacing Callum Hendry on the hour-mark at the Peninsula Stadium during the 1-0 defeat to Salford City.

But after a heavy blow to his lower back on the half-way line, the 19-year-old was left grounded but battled on. He had a decent effort on goal, which was saved by keeper Jamie Jones, before making a strong run up the right-flank and winning a corner.

The youngster though was unable to carry on, and was withdrawn in the 90th minute after going down again holding his back.

“He's in a lot of pain,” Mike Williamson confirmed after the game. “It's really disappointing. He's come in, he's only had one day to train. He's got a lot of pace, he's clinical and he was getting chances. But he took a nasty hit, so we'll have to monitor him.”

Tripp’s impressive league debut

Finch was not the only man making his debut, with recently 18 Callum Tripp given his first league start on Monday night.

Playing at centre back, and tasked with keeping lively striker Cole Stockton quiet, Tripp not only did as much but had a stand-out performance in defence, capped with a brilliant tackle on the excellent Tyrese Fornah late in the day just inside the penalty area, before stopping Kylian Kouassi by standing firm as the substitute attempted to barge his way through.

Williamson has previously heaped praise on the teenager, and did the same on Monday night, saying: “Trippy was excellent. Defensively he did well against a very experienced striker, someone we knew would be physical. He was patient, showed a lot of maturity.

“In possession, he was just Trippy. He's comfortable, he can step in and I'm really pleased with him.”