McGrandles delighted with 'ugly' Dons win

Chuks Aneke's 87th minute goal separated the sides at Rodney Parade, Dons' first win away since November 3. On a rugby pitch, which played true to type, Dons had to play on the back foot for much of the night in Wales as the home side hit the frame of the goal four times without beating Stuart Moore before Aneke came off the bench to snatch the three points.

Conor McGrandles, returning to the side in the centre of the park, was one of five changes Paul Tisdale made to his side, and said the win was more important than the manner of the victory as they won for only the third time this year.

"It's a good win but it's only one win. We've been on a bad run, but it will help with the confidence a lot because it's a different kind of win, it shows we can do the ugly side. We're three points closer to where we want to be. There's not much in it. We think on our day we're up there with the best, but we need to perform to these levels a bit more and climb the table.

"It showed a different side to us, we had to dig in a lot, there were a lot of crosses and corners and we had to stand up to it. Everyone did well, but the boys who came in who haven't played for a while were brilliant. It shows everyone is ready to step in when they're called on.

"Sometimes you have to ride your luck, but one the whole we defended really well – won our headers and defended the second balls. And big Stu pulled us out a few times! I think it was well deserved, the luck we got.

We knew what kind of game it was and the manager made the changes the game needed. Callum Brittain coming in was brilliant, big Stu on his first league game too – it shows everyone is prepared to come in when called upon. That's credit to the players and staff for keeping us all prepared.

"We had a lot of good chances too, it wasn't one way. We knew we had quality if we could stay in the game, and if we kept a clean sheet we knew we could score. We brought on quality with Hesk (Jake Hesketh) and Chuks, we knew we'd create chances."