Injured Dons midfielder dealt another comeback blow

Midfielder Ash Hunter has been dealt another blow on his recovery from a hamstring injury, and is set to be sidelined for a significant period.

The 28-year-old, who signed in the summer after leaving Morecambe, suffered the injury in the first-half against Crewe at the start of September. Having endured a lengthy hamstring issue earlier in his career, Hunter had feared the worst but the initial scans revealed the injury was not as bad as feared.

Hunter had begun his return to grass training when Mike Williamson took over at Stadium MK, and took part in the first session with the head coach a couple of weeks ago.

However, what the midfielder thought was another niggle has turned out to be far worse, and looks set to sideline him into the New Year.

“He's had a difficult time, really,” Williamson confirmed. “He trained the first session with us, he didn't think it was much more than a niggle but the scan has come back worse than expected.

“We're trying to put an arm around him. There's nothing you can really say to people in those moments to help them feel more positive, you've just got to help them through it.

“He's done it before, so he has that experience and understanding, but for someone so young, it's a difficult moment. He'll come through it and be stronger for it.”

Joining him in the treatment room is fellow midfielder Ethan Robson, who is awaiting news on a scan after suffering an injury in training on Tuesday. Dean Lewington’s recovery though took another step forward this week as he took part in the whole training session.

Williamson said: “Lewie did all of the session on Tuesday, when he was just down to for a couple of areas of it, but he ended up doing everything. He just wants to do as much as he can, and we'll see today (Wednesday) if he's had any reaction to it.

“Ethan picked up a niggle early on on Tuesday so he'll be going for a scan, and a few of the lads had some tightness.

“We've had a lot of games, a lot of load on the lads, and now they're having slightly different training methods.”