Stewart’s injury is worse than Dons expected

Dons’ defensive woes show no sign of letting up after Mark Jackson confirmed the injury to Anthony Stewart is worse than initially thought.

The defender suffered the injury in training ahead of what could have been his debut for the club against Oxford United last week, having moved to the club on transfer deadline day.

Joining Warren O’Hora and Dean Lewington in the treatment room, Dons had hoped Stewart’s injury would be a shorter-term problem, but head coach Jackson confirmed he is still several weeks away from being able to return to training again.

“It'll be a few more weeks than we thought,” Jackson confirmed. “We've not got a timescale on it, but it will be longer than a couple of weeks. If he responds well in the next week, it might be shorter but we'll have to see how he reacts to the treatment.”

There could be another blow in waiting too for Dons as Dawson Devoy missed training on Thursday through illness. The Irishman, 21, has been a key figure in Dons’ side of late, but will be assessed ahead of tomorrow’s game at Hillsborough.

Jackson said: “Dawson was feeling ill this week, we've assessed him. He's played a lot of football for us recently and has been influential for us, so we'll see how he is.”

Ethan Robson is closing in on a return for Jackson’s side though, but will not be fit in time to take on Wednesday.