AFC Wimbledon striker Craig Tanner may not have broken his goalscoring duck in Saturday’s win over Portsmouth, but he came very close.

The 20-year-old loanee from Reading was Dons’ stand-out performer in a 1-0 win that arrested a run of back-to-back League Two defeats.

He so nearly grabbed the only goal of the game, and his first in 10 appearances, until his shot was deflected into the net by Pompey’s Ben Chorley.

Tanner could have added a second after the break, but Pompey keeper Paul Jones kept him out twice.

Tanner said: “I’m over the moon to get the three points.

“It’s been a tough week, but with the fans behind us we’ve put in a good performance and we got the win. That’s all that matters.

“It was a bit of a dubious goal, but I’ve claimed it nonetheless.”

He added: “It’s my job to get goals and create goals. I’m happy with the performance and I’m starting to show what I can do.”

The Dons moved up to 12th in the table and, with eight matches left in the season, Tanner feels they can still reach the play-offs despite sitting six points adrift.

“Until it’s mathematically impossible we are still going to keep pushing,” he said.

“The boys have said ‘If we keep going at home we’re guaranteed to win with the fans behind us’.

“With the way we are playing I feel we can get into the play-offs.”

Boss Neal Ardley said: “It doesn’t matter how you win you just need to win. It’s been a tough three weeks with the number of injuries and suspensions we have picked up.

“I was delighted in what was the end of a tough week, because we dug in and we picked up a really good win.”