Darius Charles hailed the mammoth support inside the Cherry Red Records stadium on Saturday night as AFC Wimbledon took a tentative step towards Wembley.

Tom Beere’s injury time winner means the Dons take a slender 1-0 lead into the second leg of the League Two play-off at Accrington Stanley on Wednesday.

The goal was also greeted by a huge cheer when almost 5,000 Dons fans lifted the roof off the CRRS as a period of Dons’ pressure finally broke Stanley’s resolve in injury time.

Charles, a loan-signing from Burton Albion, said: “I don’t think I have ever come across a better set of fans, they are brilliant.

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“I don’t know if they know, but they mean so much to us – some days you come out and you cannot always feel good, feel 100 per cent, but when you hear the noise they make in supporting you it lifts you and is amazing.”

He added: “We have the slight edge, but everyone knows it is only half-time – we have got to go there and put in probably our best performance of the season because they are a great opposition.

“It is going to be tough and it is going to be tight, so we need to make sure we take our work ethic from the home game and put it into the away game.

“Tom’s goal was a great moment, but it was only a moment and we still have a job to do up there.”

The night was a cagey affair, but Dons upped the ante when boss Neal Ardley introduced Adebayo Akinfenwa mid-way through the second half.

Not only did the Beast slam the woodwork as the pressure mounted on the visitors, but he also had a hand in setting up Beere’s dramatic winner.

Charles said: “Bayo is a phenomenal player, I have played against him, and fortunately now I am playing with him.

“Anyone watching saw how much pressure he releases from the back four, he allows us to get up the pitch.

“And he puts so much pressure on the opposing back four – it is frightening.

“It is no surprise we were in the ascendancy when he came on.”

He added: “But now we rest, we recover, we get ourselves right – it’s going to be the toughest test up there, but we are ready for the challenge.”