Dons defender suffered hip injury in vital win over Bristol Rovers

By Richard Cawley

richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Darius Charles was forced off in AFC Wimbledon’s 1-0 win over Bristol Rovers on Saturday with a hip injury – and boss Neal Ardley revealed the centre-back has been battling on with it for a while.

The Dons halted a run of four straight League One defeats to climb out of the bottom four.

And Ardley said: “It was the hip for Darius. He has played five games on the trot and was probably hanging on by the third or fourth one.

“His hip locked up and he was struggling to move before half-time. We gave him 10-15 minutes and then made the brave decision to change shape and throw a couple more attacking players on, knowing we might lose a bit more of the midfield and that we might not be as solid.

“The remit was to be solid beforehand as we had conceded 11 goals in four games. The boys who came on made the difference.”