AFC Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson was pleased with his side as they moved into the League Two automatic promotion places with a 2-1 win at bottom-of-the-table Carlisle.
Callum Maycock and Alistair Smith put the Dons 2-0 up but it was a nervy climax for the promotion chasers after Matthew Dennis pulled a goal back.
Jackson said: “We deserved to win it. The end was nervy because of the state of the game and we only had a one-goal cushion but we saw it through.
“After their goal, our goalkeeper didn’t have much to do, the state of the game made it a little anxious but I’m buzzing we got over the line.
“We showed two sides to us today, we played some really good football and we dug in when we had to.
“It’s actually my lad’s birthday, I’m buzzing for him as he asked me to bring back three points for his birthday present.”
Jackson was also impressed by the overall performances of goalscorers Maycock and Smith.
He added: “We brought him (Maycock) back into the side for his legs, his energy, for him to get into the box and goalscoring positions.
“He was great and it was a really good finish as well, I’m delighted for him and for us.
“It was really good from Smudge (Smith), again something we’ve been banging on about tirelessly is midfielders arriving into the box. That’s where you want Smudge, arriving in the box, and it was a great goal.”
Meanwhile, boss Mark Hughes admitted Carlisle’s poor start played a big part in his side’s defeat, which left them nine points adrift of safety following Tranmere’s victory at Bradford.
He said: “It was a terrible start, obviously, completely the opposite of what we had hoped for. It changes the shape of our game in terms of what we were trying to do.
“It’s a similar situation for the second one in all fairness, we’ve conceded once again very quickly after the break and that’s disappointing.”
Despite the defeat, Hughes was pleased with Dennis’ goal, with the former MK Dons man combining well with Kadeem Harris.
He added: “We scored a great goal, actually, I thought Matty Dennis did well and Kadeem did great to get the ball over but there were not enough of those opportunities really.
“I thought we were stuck between two schools of thought. I felt we could attack behind their wing-backs today and get the balls in.
“We reverted back to a back four to try and release our full-backs, to a point I thought that worked well, but we didn’t create enough really good chances.
“We made some changes in the second half that brought a bit more energy and we pegged it back a bit but sometimes we’ve got to be a little more basic, put balls into the areas, turn players around and make them make mistakes.”
