Gary Caldwell hails Exeter’s ‘character and mentality’ after AFC Wimbledon win

Gary Caldwell praised the “character and mentality” of his Exeter side as their perseverance paid off in grinding out a 1-0 League One win over AFC Wimbledon at St James Park.

Jack McMillan settled a game devoid of chances with 10 minutes remaining as his shot from Ilmari Niskanen’s pullback squirmed under Dons goalkeeper Nathan Bishop and ended up in the net.

“It was a huge game to win after playing so well and winning a huge cup tie on Saturday, it’s not easy to go again,” Caldwell said.

“I thought we were the better team, we just found it hard to break down a very rigid 5-3-2 and after starting well, we got bored of doing the same things and didn’t have a threat on the final third. But it’s very difficult to do that against a low block.

“I said we had to be diligent and defend long balls and I felt we would get a chance and that’s what happened.

“It’s a huge, huge win that the players backed up after Saturday – that’s not easy after the high of that and then the (FA) cup draw (Exeter were drawn away to Manchester City) – and we move on to Bolton on Saturday.

“We didn’t find the speed to our game, or play through the last line, but the effort and understanding after one day’s training was very good and we restricted them to very little.

“The big thing is character and mentality. The players kept going, did the right things and we finally broke them down with another cutback from Immy and a great finish from Jack.”

Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson felt a draw would have been a fair result but was left cursing mistakes from his side, which led to the only goal of the game.

“It was closely-fought and I think we should come away with a point,” Jackson said. “That’s my feeling and I am frustrated because we probably weathered the early storm when they had the better of it in the first half-hour, but we finished the first half strong.

“We were probably in the ascendancy second half and it looked like, if we weren’t going to win it, then it might just peter out into a draw, but we gave them a soft one.

“There were some poor defensive decisions leading up to the goal which cost us.

“We tried to get back into it, but it was too late and it felt like one of those games where neither team was doing enough to go and win it, but then we gift them a chance and they take it and we haven’t then done enough at the end.

“I felt we were the better team in the second half. I didn’t feel we were going to concede but we did, and a couple of poor defensive actions have led to their opportunity and it was taken.”