Dons striker George Oakley has suffered another injury set-back, and boss Neal Ardley says fans’ perception of the tall teenager is not working in his favour.

The 19-year-old limped out of a development match this week with a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

Ardley said: “It’s a bit sad for him. He missed six to seven weeks earlier in the season, and we had him on a strengthening programme.

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“Then he got a niggle in his hip and was out for another two weeks, but 10 days ago we thought he was ready to come back.

“It was an odd one in the development game, he was not sprinting or anything like that. The ball was bobbling in the area and he just went down holding the back of his leg.”

He added: “He’s a big lad, more than six feet tall, and because of that people think he is a more developed footballer than he actually is and that he is ready for League Two football.

“The likes of Will [Nightingale] and Tom [Beere] are second year professionals, whereas George is a first year.

“He still needs to learn about dealing with League Two defenders, but at the moment he is not entirely ready.”