Striker Max Dean is edging closer to the pre-season goals he set himself this term, but he still hopes promotion can be the biggest tick yet.
The 20-year-old has had a breakout season at Stadium MK. Barely kicking a ball for the club until early September when he made his first EFL start against Notts County, the ex-Leeds man has not looked back. With 16 goals in 29 appearances for the club this season, those numbers could have been even greater had he not missed seven weeks with a hamstring injury.
Since his return though, four goals in his last three – including his sensational appearance off the bench which saw him score two and set two up in 25 minutes against Walsall – have Dean’s name back on everyone’s lips heading into the business end of the season.
When he spoke to the Citizen ahead of Dons’ pre-season tour to Germany, Dean said his aims were to play a bigger part in the team for the forthcoming season, and having done that in emphatic fashion, becoming the club’s top scorer, Dean said he is closing in on some other pre-season ambitions too. “I’m pretty close to some of them, but we’ve got three more games to try and achieve more of them,” he said. “I’ve got to give it everything in the final three to get my goals and the team’s goals as well.” One of those is to get Dons back into League One at the first time of asking. Taking on Mansfield Town on Saturday, a side Dons are contending with
“Even though it would be wonderful if we could place in the top three, there won’t be any hangover if we don’t receive automatic promotion and advance through the play-offs. We’ll play our hardest for the 270 minutes of football that we have left.
“We will play in the same manner as always. They have a large club, talented players, and an extremely seasoned manager, which is why they are there. We’ll play our style, and I believe we can compete with them on an equal footing, just like we did in Dons’ victory against Mansfield last month. The last time, that went fairly well.
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