AFC Wimbledon boss Neal Ardley admitted his players had to fight hard for victory over Exeter City on Saturday, as they came from behind to record just their second win in 11 games.

The hosts got off to a terrible start when Jack Midson headed into his own net but the striker made amends, 16 minutes from time, with a poached winner after Luke Moore had equalised.

And after the early set back, Ardley could breathe a sigh of relief with his side sealing their first home win since November.

He said: “We’re just relieved we’ve come away with the three points. Today was all about a League Two scrap and we’ve come out of it.

“They had a couple of good chances and we were at sixes and sevens early on but as the game went on we mastered it.

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“We knew we hadn’t won many games recently and we talked about that during the week. We wanted to make sure that point at Scunthorpe was good and we needed to impose ourselves at home.”

The win pushes Wimbledon up to 11th in League Two and Ardley has his sights firmly set on avoiding a repeat of last season’s relegation battle.

And the Dons manager is confident that match-winner Midson, whose contract runs out at the end of the season, can fire them even further up the table.

He added: “We’re going to try and get to 60 points but obviously our first target is 54.

“If we can avoid that relegation battle that’s a great start considering where we are in the budget table.

“People ask where are we going to get our goals from but I’d be surprised, if he plays regularly, if Jack didn’t chip in with six to 10 goals in the second half of the season.

“If we create chances people like Jack will score so credit to him.”

SEE OUR PICTURES FROM AFC WIMBLEDON V EXETER