Neal Ardley is on the hunt for a centre-back with Karleigh Osborne facing up to two months on the side-lines.

The AFC Wimbledon boss confirmed former Brentford defender Osborne will undergo a scan this morning amid fears he has damaged medial knee ligaments in a training incident on Thursday.

Teenager Ryan Sweeney filled the breach admirably for Saturday’s 4-1 win over Luton, but with the game against the Hatters the first of eight over the next calendar month Ardley knows he needs cover.

“Hopefully it won’t be as serious as we think, but if it is medial it could be four to eight weeks and it leaves us with two centre-backs,” he said

“We have got a lot of faith in Ryan Sweeney and think he is going to be a very hot prospect. I thought he was outstanding today, but it would be careless to go into a playoff push without finding a centre-half to strengthen the ranks.

On the lookout: Neal Ardley

“With where we are the best way would be to try and find an experienced one with a bit of know-how as we have already got a young one in the ranks with Ryan. We can’t find anyone out there at the moment who fits the bill, but we will keep looking.

Sweeney’s mature display against the Hatters may buy Ardley some breathing space in the search, the Dons’ boss insisting he had no fears about throwing the 18-year-old into the fray.

“It isn’t luck we’ve had seven or eight academy players (like Ryan) play in the first team the last year or so,” he added “That has come from building an U21 set-up and giving the players time to develop.

Ryan Sweeney marks Lyle Taylor, Bayo (Akinfenwa), Tom Elliott and Ade (Azeez) in training every day.

“When he can cope every day with those boys, he feels confident to be able to cope with League Two forwards because ours are as good as there are in the league.”