John Coleman praised two ‘special’ goals as his Stanley side boosted their play-off hopes with a 2-0 win against Wimbledon in League Two.

Jack Nolan curled the ball in from the edge of the area on 50 minutes and Ben Woods blasted home from 25 yards with nine minutes remaining to secure the victory and move 12th-placed Stanley to within two points of the top seven.

In between, Manchester United loanee Radek Vitek pulled off a double save to keep out unmarked Kofi Balmer’s header and then cleared Lee Brown’s follow-up with his feet. He also denied Harry Pell near the end.

Coleman said: “It’s an important three points. It was a typical League Two game played on a lively pitch.

“It wasn’t conducive to a lot of football being played but we stuck to our task well and scored two great goals to win it.

“We got ourselves into areas where we can have shots and when you do that, eventually they are going to go in.

“We have had games this season where we have had 25-plus shots and not scored. There were not too many on target tonight but the ones that were, were special.

“That’s clean sheets in three out of our last four games and Radek has made a wonderful save. It’s moments of brilliance which win you games at both ends of the pitch.

“The word at half-time was belief, we have to believe we are going to win this game and we showed that.”