AFC Wimbledon boss Neal Ardley says Morecambe's Shaun Beeley should have been sent off for a "leg-breaker" challenge on Andy Barcham on Saturday.

The winger underwent a scan on his knee earlier this week after being stretchered off on oxygen in the first half of the 5-2 defeat.

While Ardley was relieved the tackle did not damage Barcham's cruciate ligament, the scan revealed a deep injury in the medial ligament - meaning he will be sidelined for at least six weeks.

He said: "It's good news that it is medial rather than cruciate, but the impact was that heavy it has caused damage deep down.

"I was more disappointed with the tackle. Having seen it back, it was a bad one.

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"It was a sending off, it was a leg-breaker in many ways, so it was more disappointing that the referee did not give a free kick or even see it."

Ardley is also going to be without goalkeeper James Shea for at least three weeks as he recovers from the groin injury that forced him to miss the trip to Accrington Stanley.

In his place, the Dons recruited Ben Wilson, 23, from Cardiff City on a month's emergency loan, rather than risk having U18s keeper Will Mannion on the bench.

Ardley said: "James had a scan on his groin and he has done some damage in his fibre tissue - the medical staff reckon he will need a good three weeks to get right.

"The problem he has had recently is that he trained on a Friday with no kicking, so not to aggravate it.

"So when games come round, is he trained up to the best of his ability, the answer is probably no.

"He's not as sharp as he could be - you can tell it's affected his kicking - we just felt it was the right time to say enough is enough."

He added: "No disrespect to Joe [McDonnell, reserve keeper], we could have put him in and I would have no qualms about doing it.

"But to have Joe in and young Will [Mannion] from the U18s on the bench meant we would be leaving ourselves light.  

"The right thing to do for the team, with the busy schedule of difficult fixtures ahead, was to bring in a talented young goalkeeper in Ben [Wilson], who is highly thought of."

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Halt: James Shea has been taken out of action for around three weeks to recover from a groin injury