Smith and Kemp make good impressions in Cheltenham win

Matt Smith made his second Dons appearance on Tuesday night. He setup Troy Parrott to open the scoring in the 3-1 victory.

Deadline day signings Matt Smith and Dan Kemp have been rare spots since arriving at MK Dons in January but both got valuable run-outs against Cheltenham Town on Tuesday night.

Kemp had only been seen in a brief substitute appearance against Lincoln City, while Smith’s debut came in attricious conditions against Fleetwood Town last month.

But in his second start for the club, the former Manchester City midfielder was able to show a little more of what he is about, even putting in the cross for Troy Parrott’s first goal since October on 26 minutes.

Still carving his groove in the squad, Smith earned praise from head coach Liam Manning afterwards: “He showed some nice touches and did some good things. He needs game minutes.

“Running on the pitch is so totally different than training.”

Dan Kemp looked lively in his half-hour cameo against Cheltenham

Kemp was given half-an -hour in the second half replacing Tennai Watson, who limped out early.

Looking lively and eager to get on the ball, Manning said Parrott’s second of the evening late on could not have been possible had it not been for Kemp’s run to draw defenders away.

He said: “For the third goal, if he doesn’t get out the way, Troy doesn’t get the space to score so he showed some good awareness.

“Kempy will make a big impact for us.

“Dan played at a different intensity to the rest of the game, which is why he caught the eye. He showed some good energy, some good movement and took up some good spaces.

“I had him at West Ham for a while - he’s an intelligent player. He’ll take up good spots and makes good runs.”