Alex Revell happy to win ugly as Stevenage break into play-off places

Winning is the name of the game now for Stevenage manager Alex Revell – and his team did just that with a 1-0 success at home to AFC Wimbledon.

With results going for them elsewhere too, Jamie Reid’s 10th-minute penalty was enough to send them back into the top six of League One and it leaves the equation simple for the remaining 10 games of the season.

The Boro boss said: “[The game] probably wasn’t the best in terms of quality at times but at this stage of the season, it’s about winning, isn’t it?

“And for us, we managed to get through the game. We could have made it a bit easier for ourselves if we had taken those few little moments but, all in all, I’m really proud of our players, and for me, we thoroughly deserved the win.”

While the quality was not perhaps the best, Revell was delighted with the work rate of his side, something that could prove crucial in the battles ahead.

He said: “What I did really enjoy was how we managed the game at times.

“Wimbledon are a team that have done brilliantly in the league this year for me personally and they have been on a really top run.

“We knew this was going to be difficult but we had to bounce back from [the loss to Leyton Orient on] Tuesday night.

“And I just thought to a man, the work rate that they got through for each other, those duels, it just shows what we’ve got here.

“It’s one win, we know that, but we’ve put ourselves in a really amazing position for this football club and we should be really proud of that.

“We always try and treat losses and draws and wins the same. We try to be as level as we can, but I’ll always maintain that we’ve got a really top group of people here that work incredibly hard for each other.”

Dons boss Johnnie Jackson was left disappointed.

“I don’t think there was anything in the game at all really,” he said. “One moment, one long throw we don’t deal with and they get the penalty from that.

“That was the difference and it gave them something to hang on to, and we don’t do enough to get back into it.

“Matty [Stevens] has a great chance, he should score but it was a stalemate after that, not a lot really happened.

“They slowed their game down, played for restarts and they defend well, especially when they’ve got a lead, they defend well.

“Credit to them but we haven’t done enough.”