Neilson hints at Bowditch and Powell departures

The pair have amassed more than 400 games for the club between but with their contracts set to expire this summer, both were left out of the last two Dons squads, as was last season's top scorer Nicky Maynard.

Neilson admitted in the week he wanted to cast his eye over the younger players in his squad before making up his mind on the futures of some players, and handed starts to Callum Brittain and Giorgio Rasulo during the 1-0 defeat to Scunthorpe on Good Friday.

Speaking afterwards, Neilson admitted omitting Bowditch and Powell in particular highlighted the direction he wants to take the club.

"It's important to give the young players a chance," he said. "We know what Bowditch can do, we know what Powell can do. We need to give the Rasulos and Brittains the chance.

"These other guys have been great servants but we move on as a football club. Decisions have been made privately and we move on."

It was far from a Good Friday for Dons on the field though as a disciplined Scunthorpe side took their one chance when it came along to snatch all three points at Stadium MK.

Ivan Toney's 29th minute header proved not only to be the sole goal of the game, but also the Iron's only chance on target throughout.

Dons dominated possession but struggled to break down the play-off hopefuls, amounting just four chances of their own - Ed Upson, Stuart O'Keefe and Harvey Barnes coming close but never really testing Scunny keeper Joe Anyon.

Neilson said: "(Scunthorpe) shut up shop but that's up to them. They sat in three banks and didn't break down. Credit to them, that's the way they wanted to play and it got them success this year.

"But we played against them and we totally dominated and it shows what direction we're heading in. Hopefully they come here next year and we turn them over because we've definitely got the quality to do it.

"I thought we passed the ball for the sake of it which was disappointing. In the first half, we totally dominated and had opportunities to play forward but we were too negative. In the second half, we were a bit better, but we were playign against a team that shut up shop and became really hard to break down.

"The pleasing thing was that we dominated against a side sitting up at the top end of the table, we just couldn't get that game finished off."