JOHNNIE Jackson urged his players to “focus on us” after Omar Bugiel’s double earned AFC Wimbledon a 2-0 win over play-off rivals Gillingham at Plough Lane on Tuesday night.
Bugiel struck either side of half-time to take his season’s goal tally to ten as the Dons moved into seventh place in League Two after an unbeaten March that included three wins and a draw in four games as well as no goals conceded.
Stephen Clemence’s Gills, who had Conor Masterson sent off in the 38th minute after two yellow cards in two minutes, dropped to tenth.
“A really good and solid performance,” Jackson said on the Dons’ website. “We caused them a lot of problems which led to the sending-off. We created a lot of chances on the night and we defended well when we had to. Another clean sheet, four in a row, really, really pleased with that. We’re showing great solidity and we’ve added goals to that in the last few games.
“We’ve chalked another off and now we have eight to go. We’re three points closer to where we need to be but we haven’t cracked anything. The boys need to stay really focused, which they have been. They’ve been outstanding. They need to focus on their recovery and then we look ahead to Newport here [on Saturday]. If we come off of our levels we will come unstuck really quickly. Let’s focus on us.”
On Bugiel, Jackson added: “I’m really pleased with his goals because they’re two proper centre-forward goals. He’ll tell you how much I bang on about him being in those positions. If we give him the deliveries, you can see that he’s a menace in those situations. Great headed goal and then he gets a poacher’s one for his second. He’s listening and hopefully he’ll continue to do it.”
Meanwhile, Jackson gave an update on James Tilley, who missed the game. He said: “He got a whack in his ribs at Notts on Saturday and he was really sore after coming back in on Monday. We had a look at him [Tuesday] morning but he was still suffering. I don’t think it’s broken. I would expect him to recover quite quickly.”
