Manchester United centre back Sonny Aljofree endured a steep learning curve as MK Dons ran out 2-1 winners against his loan side Accrington Stanley.
The 19 year old found gametime hard to come by in his opening month at the struggling League Two team but he has become more involved as of late.
Aljofree has started three of the last four league games for his new side, playing the 90 minutes in all of the encounters.
MK Dons dominated the ball with 55% but had many less shots as The ‘Owd Reds had 14 shots to the home side’s five efforts. The young academy product was given a score of 5.9 on Sofascore as he failed to get involved in the game.
The first goal of the evening arrived after just one minute when a loose ball from the Accrington centre back was cut out by Alex Gilby who slotted home.
Aljofree was the closest defender to the action but there was no way he could have reacted in time due to the poor placement of his teammate’s pass.
The second goal arrived after another unlucky moment for the United defender. Aljofree cut out a cross from the right-hand side, sending the ball well outside the penalty area, apparently out of danger.
No one sent Joe Tomlinson the memo, however, as he took a couple of touches and smashed a looping shot into the top corner to give his side a 2-0 lead.
The goal went down as an error leading to a goal but it was incredibly harsh on the teenager.
Aljofree made only one clearance and two interceptions in the match. He also won only 50% of his ground and aerial duels during the game.
The youngster did have 51 touches as part of a back three but he did give the ball away 16 times and only made 65% of his passes. He was particularly wasteful with long balls, only making two of his ten attempts connect with his teammates.
Accrington Stanley and Aljofree will be hoping to return to winning ways when they welcome second-placed Walsall to the Wham Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images
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