AFC Wimbledon boss Neal Ardley would not apologise for the poor quality of Saturday’s win over Crawley Town, but he hailed it the perfect model of a scrappy win.

Paul Robinson’s 83rd minute header was the difference between the sides, and it keeps the Dons in the League Two play-offs ahead of tomorrow night’s trip to the already-relegated Dagenham & Redbridge.

Ardley had been forced into putting out a make-shift side after Jake Reeves succumbed to injury in mid-week, and Tom Elliott withdrew because of tonsillitis.

However, the biggest factor on the match was the state of the CRRS pitch.

Ardley said: “I cannot apologise for the poor quality of the game, because the pitch is a leveller and the players cannot do anything about it.

“They had to fight and scrap – and that’s how to scrap a game 1-0.”

He added: “The game was everything I thought it would be. Our pitch isn't conducive to lower-league football let alone any league football.”

Ardley insisted there was also pressure on his players to deal with the aftermath of back-to-back wins at League Two play-off rivals Wycombe Wanderers and Plymouth Argyle.

He said: “Because we had gone to Wycombe and Plymouth and got two great results, people would have looked at this one and said ‘Can they do it against a team that has nothing to play for?’.

“So there was always big pressure and anxiety on it. The lads handled that, the conditions and Crawley well, they stuck at their tasks.

“There were limited chances, but we kept going and pulled out a great moment to win the game.”