By Rob Cornell
Jon Meades believes Wimbledon displayed all the battling qualities that will be required to stay in League One during Saturday's victory against Oxford United.
No one in blue and yellow cared about the scrappy nature of the win on Saturday, least of all Wimbledon's match-winner Jon, and he has called for more of the same during the rest of 2017/18.
"It gives us a springboard," said Jon. "With it being the last 10 games and trying to get three more wins, I think we're easily capable of doing that, and hopefully as soon as possible. We're just focusing on performances. I think if we get them right, the results will look after themselves.
"The position we're in isn't ideal, so there is a little bit of tension. We had a really good week prior to beating Oxford. All the boys are feeling pretty relaxed to be honest. I think that showed in our performance, we're still doing the right things and luckily we came out on top with the three points, which is really good for us.
"All the boys want the same thing and that's to stay in this division and then hopefully kick on. It's all about doing the 'nitty-gritty' side of the game. It might not always be flowing football; we've just got to focus on doing that side of the game as we did it really well on Saturday."
Next up, it's an away match at in-form Rochdale, Keith Hill's side having raised hopes of an unlikely escape after recent victories, but Jon says the Dons will be in confident mood.
"It's a game we know we can win," added Jon. "We will be going up there with a positive frame of mind on the back of this result and long may that continue. It will be tough on Saturday as Rochdale are on a good run of form. They've had a few games in hand, which they've been capitalising on. I remember going up there last season and it was a tough game.
"We had a quick look at the table after the Oxford game and it's brought a few clubs into it now. I think the last ten games are all about holding your nerve, good team spirit and just making sure you put everything into your performances week in, week out which I'm sure we'll do."