Neal Ardley reckons his current crop of players understand exactly what it means to pull on an AFC Wimbledon shirt.

Saturday’s 1-0 win over Accrington Stanley, thanks to Tom Beere’s late, late show, has put the Dons within 90 minutes of a one-off game and a place in the third tier of English football.

It is a long way from the club’s reincarnation in 2002 when they re-entered the football pyramid at level nine in the Combined Counties League.

Ardley said: “The story of this club is incredible, and I am a tiny part of it now – but what they have done over the past 14 years has been incredible.

“They have brought in some fantastic managers, and I am not talking about myself, I am talking about the people before me, who have done great jobs and they have got it right all the way along.

“I am talking about the fans and the board, they all make the decisions together – there is a togetherness about this club and this group of players, more than any other group I have had, understand what they are playing for, and they are doing the club proud.”

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Ardley’s second half substitutions were the difference in a cagey League Two play-off first leg when Adebayo Akinfenwa’s introduction swung the tie in the Dons’ favour, eventually having a hand in Beere’s winner.

The manager said: “The players want to do as well as they can for the club, and I think that is why we were a little bit nervous in the first half and we did not flow as well.

“But it is important in those spells that we stay in the game and see our jobs through, we did and we limited them to very little.”

He added: “We put Beere on in [Sean] Rigg’s position, we felt we were getting a little bit of momentum having brought on Adebayo, who was causing them a problem or two, and we thought we might just get things drop in and around the area.

“Tom is a clean striker of the ball, we’re delighted with his goal and he showed great composure, but first and foremost he had to do his job for the team.”