AFC Wimbledon boss Neal Ardley knew there were raised eye-brows when he signed Adedeji Oshilaja, but he is convinced the "boy has a good future".

The 22-year-old defender not only opened the scoring in Dons' 2-1 win over York City on Saturday, he also picked up his second man-of-the-match performance in as many games.

But he was signed as a defender, and Ardley says the youngster is proving his worth at the club.

“I knew what he was capable of when I brought him in,” he said.

“I’ve tried to sign Deji Oshilaja five times before and was not quite able to do it, and when I finally signed him, several people raised their eyebrows and asked what I was doing.

“But I said he was better than this level and he’s proving it. He is two footed and his one v one defending is excellent.”

He added: “The boy has got a good future and I’m proud to be part of that.”

Despite a solid first-half performance, the Dons conceded right before half-time when Jake Hyde put the ball into the net following a scramble in the box.

What other Dons fans are reading:

AFC Wimbledon: Ardley's men are denied their freedom, but they still take the points off York City

A Womble's View: Why are we having a pop at our own keeper?

Both sides created chances after the break but it was the hosts that scored late on when Jack Smith’s volley from outside the box found the top corner of the goal.

Ardley felt a draw was probably the right result but said every team needs late winners from time to time.

“Both parties would have said it’s a hard fought point and while I’d say we didn’t deserve to win the game I would say that we have deserved to win a lot,” he said.

“We have played really well on lot’s of occasions and not got what we should have so I’ll have happily take that today.”

Ardley added that he is not concerned with his strikers’ lack of goals recently.

“We are a team so it doesn’t matter who scores. We work on getting into good positions and bodies into the areas just to take these chances.

“Jack Smith is a good player and he took his chance today, and Deji has got a good leap and he caused them problems from set-pieces.”