Dons manager Roberto Di Matteo was in high spirits as he reflected on a positive first pre-season friendly against Reading.

The Dons were beaten 2-1 despite a first senior goal from teenage striker Sam Baldock as Jimmy Kebe and Stephen Hunt ensured the Championship side took the spoils.

But in his post-match press conference, Di Matteo was understandably pleased with his squad after an impressive passing display against a strong Royals outfit, despite a defeat in his first game.

He joked: "I've lost my undefeated record already so I'm not too pleased about that!

"No seriously, I'm pleased with the performance from the team. It was interesting to see how they would put all the training we did in the last couple of weeks into practice but we expected them to be a little bit tired.

"We're not there yet, it's early days and we've only been working two weeks. It's going to take a while but early signs are good.

"We had a few trialists in and some young players from the youth team so it was interesting to see how they played. As you could see today we don't have enough players, it's as simple as that. We're looking to add in every department.

"All in all it's been a very positive day, I'm not concerned about the result at all."

Baldock's superbly-taken equaliser on 25 minutes ensured he was the talk of a happy Cowshed after the game, but Di Matteo says the 19-year-old's impressive showing didn't come as a shock to him.

He said: "Sam is no surprise to me, it's not like 'wow Sam Baldock, we've got something here,' I knew what he could do and he's going to be a good asset for us this season.

"If he can guarantee me one goal in every game then I guess he'll play regularly!"