AFC Wimbledon boss Neal Ardley looked the footballing Gods square in the eye on Sunday and came out smiling.

The 3-1 win at Oxford United not only extended the Dons’ unbeaten run in all competitions to six games, it also ended a 12-match hoodoo against United stretching back six years.

Tom Elliott opened the scoring and Andy Barcham put the Dons 3-0 ahead before the break – the goals sandwiched a controversial Darius Charles strike that had United players screaming for a foul in the build-up.

The hosts pulled a goal back early in the second half when Charles put through his own net, but, at the final whistle, the Dons climbed to 10th in the League Two table.

They are now two points off the play-offs ahead of this weekend’s home game against Swindon Town.

Ardley told Dons Player: “It is three points and that is what we aim to achieve, but I am absolutely delighted that the Wimbledon fans can say that the hoodoo has ended.

“I’ve been here [Oxford] a few times when we’ve not deserved to lose and we’ve been on the end of a wrong result.

“You start to wonder if there is some almighty God up there that is doing it to you.

“The fans have probably come here with low expectations, but they’ve gone home happy so I am happy.”

He added: “It was an all-round team performance. As a manager and a leader you want the group to have cohesion and we had that. The work-rate was phenomenal.

“The front three worked hard, the midfield three were everywhere, and the back players had a tough front four to play against, but they did it really well.”

Referee Darren Deadman was not a popular figure among the Kassam stadium faithful when he waved play on following a tough, but fair, Dean Parrett challenge on Wes Thomas in the build-up to Charles’ goal.

However, Ardley is convinced the man in the middle made the right call.

“People had murmured to me that it was not great, but I’ve seen it back and if that’s a foul you would be giving fouls all over the pitch,” he added.

“It’s absolute nonsense. He [Parrett] slides along the floor and gets the ball, he does not touch the player.

“The player [Thomas] falls over him as his momentum carries him through. It then falls to Darius and he scores.”

The result lifted the Dons above the franchise, and triggered a ripple effect at the bookies.

Ardley’s men are now 5-2 to finish above the franchise, 25-1 to win promotion, 8-1 to finish in the top six and 120-1 to reach the Premier League within five years.