Karl Robinson was delighted as Salford survived a late AFC Wimbledon onslaught to win 1-0 at the Peninsula Stadium.
The Ammies broke the deadlock against the run of play in the 83rd minute through Junior Luamba’s composed finish.
Salford’s winning goal came 10 minutes after Wimbledon thought they had taken the lead. Referee Scott Simpson controversially waved away the travelling side’s appeals after Jamie Jones had dropped and then regathered Omar Bugiel’s header under his crossbar.
The Dons rallied in search of a late equaliser, but valiant Salford defending ensured they would not be denied three points at home.
Robinson was particularly impressed by his team’s determination to protect their lead, praising their defensive resilience against a good side.
“We had a bit of luck in the last two or three minutes today, defending set-pieces, but my players were brilliant,” Robinson said.
“With the hard work they put in, maybe we deserved that little bit of fortune.
“I am starting to see a bit of my style in the way we are playing, in our ability to go direct when needed. But we can also play in the right areas.
“My players stood up to one of the most physical sides in the league today. I’ve seen Wimbledon play a lot this season and think Johnnie (Jackson) has produced one of the best teams in the division.
“Whilst we rebuild after a busy summer, we have to go and find a culture. Now we are starting to find our culture and the way we played today was certainly good to watch.
“Although my criticism of this team moving forward would be that we have to start scoring goals, we can’t continue to hang on in games. Simply because of the level we are playing at, we have to find a way to put games to bed.”
AFC Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson lamented his side’s poor fortune on the road, while conceding that the team were unusually off-colour.
Jackson said: “I thought that a lot of stuff went against us today, there was a lot of adversity.
“I thought that the opposition should have been down to 10 men and, perhaps, we should have had a goal. I thought that the ball had gone over the line.
“We concede and then we spend the next 15 minutes peppering their goal, but somehow, we could not put the ball in.
“It stings to come away with nothing as I don’t quite know how it has happened. That is not me saying we were brilliant, in my opinion we did not play particularly well, but we were in the game and should have come away with something.
“Especially after they scored, we created lots of opportunities but the ball just would not go in the net.”
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