Former Sheffield Wednesday trialist ruled out in ‘big blow’ for MK Dons – full Owls injury round-up

But there was good news elsewhere, with a handful of players brought back into contention after picking up early-season niggles.

Callum Paterson has trained with the team all week and could step in up top in the absence of Smith and last season’s top scorer Lee Gregory, who is suspended having been sent off in last weekend’s 3-3 draw with Portsmouth.

On Smith’s injury, Moore said: “It’s a niggle. We think it’s a contact injury in pre-season and it’s never quite gone away. Even though you’ve seen him train and play on it.

“It’s got to a stage that we’re at the start of the season and it’s time for him to go full blown. We don’t want to aggravate it. We’re monitoring it, so hopefully it won’t be out too long.”

Midfielders Dennis Adeniran and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru have both been passed fit to play having played a full part in training this week. Dele-Bashiru was brought off late in last weekend’s match as a precaution with tightness to his groin.

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Adeniran missed out on the matchday squad altogether with a knee issue but has had fluid drained from the affected area and looks set to be part of the squad in Buckinghamshire on Saturday.

Down the road, MK Dons will have four first teamers missing including dangerous forward Mo Eisa.

And their injury outlook was worsened when it became clear former Chelsea starlet Josh McEachran – who spent time on trial with Wednesday in the summer of 2019 – was confirmed to be out for the coming weeks.

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“It's not good news, it looks like he will be out for a little while as well,” confirmed MK Dons boss Liam Manning.

“It's a real shame. Josh had a really good pre-season - he looked strong, his running was good and he looked confident too.

“It's a big blow but we're focusing on what we can control now. It's a huge blow but we have to respond with a program to get him back as quickly ans safely as possible.”