Johnnie Jackson lauds AFC Wimbledon ‘mentality’ after victory at Plymouth

AFC Wimbledon manager Johnnie Jackson hailed his side’s mentality after coming from behind to beat Plymouth 2-1 at Home Park.

Goals either side of half-time from Omar Bugiel and Marcus Browne cancelled out Argyle’s early opener from top scorer Lorent Tolaj and helped the Dons claim a fifth win in a six-match unbeaten run in League One.

Jackson said: “I haven’t had the best of time down here – as a player – really but today it went well and I thought we turned up with the right mentality.

“It’s a great place to come and play football. There’s always a good atmosphere here. I think the game matched the occasion really. It was a really good game, a tough game.

“It was hard fought, we had to really dig in and fight for everything, fight for that win. We had to be at our very best.

“I have got to give them (Plymouth) credit because I thought we started the game terribly and the boys found a way to get back in it.

“Plymouth were better than us for the first 20 minutes, caught us cold.

“Fair play to the lads, they managed to ride it out and found a way back into the game and scoring before half-time helped.

“I was pleased with both goals. The first goal was a brilliant goal from Omar. That’s what we want from him a proper centre-forward’s goal. He was probably the one who dragged us back into it.

“The second one comes off a high press, a turnover and a great dink cross from Jake (Reeves) and another top finish.”

Argyle boss Tom Cleverley cut a frustrated figure.

He said: “I think the word disappointed sums up how we are all feeling.

“We have suffered that feeling too many times. We need to be able to learn how to keep clean sheets the dirty way.

“You look at the last two games – Wigan and Wimbledon – and we’ve taken the lead in both games, at home, and even if you’re not at your best you should find a way to win.

“I don’t feel like either team has done enough to open us up but we find ourselves losing a game today.

“After we scored the opening goal I expected us to kick-on a lot more but we didn’t.

“We are a little bit too easy of a nut to crack at the moment and we have suffered because of that again.

“It’s been a huge fundamental for this football club to have a good home record in previous years and we are not tapping into that.

“For me intensity is the first thing. When you think how do you get a crowd and a group of players connected it is intensity and bravery.

“It’s something we are not seeing enough of, so we need to go back to drawing board and not get ahead of ourselves.

“There is a naivety about us we need to work on fast.”