Notts County manager Stuart Maynard hailed a “massive” three points as his side comfortably saw off MK Dons at Meadow Lane to maintain their promotion challenge.
Two stunning strikes from David McGoldrick and Will Jarvis from the edge of the box, either side of Nick Tsaroulla’s close-range effort, earned County a convincing 3-0 win.
“I think every three points is massive now,” said the Magpies boss. “As the games start running away, the points are so vital.
“But we’re very process-driven. It’s all about the performance, and our performance levels have been excellent in probably the last five or six games.
“We haven’t quite got the points we probably deserved as a group, but we’re starting to see now, when you get clean sheets, it breeds confidence, and then all of a sudden, we’re getting the results.
“[McGoldrick’s] quality is unbelievable, and Will Jarvis is starting to show glimpses of what he will be for us in the coming years,” said Maynard.
The hosts could have had more, with a dominant performance seeing McGoldrick and Charlie Whitaker go close to opening the scoring before half-time.
“When you perform to a level that we have tonight, when you’re intense and you press at the top level of the pitch, I think it breeds confidence in the group,” said Maynard.
“We’ve been confident all year. Even when we’ve gone through bad spells, we believe in what we do and they believe in each other. We’re seeing that on the pitch.”
By contrast, the visitors slumped to a second successive loss and have now conceded three goals in back-to-back games.
“It’s a really tough place to come, and they’re a team that are at the top end of the table for a reason,” said Dons caretaker manager Ben Gladwin.
“I thought the boys were brilliant in the first half. We were there for each other and I thought there was a lot of positive stuff to build on.”
Goalkeeper Connal Trueman stopped McGoldrick from opening the scoring, while Connor Lemonheigh-Evans had the Dons’ best chance when he fired narrowly wide.
“But then, we were just nowhere near it in the second half. I think all three of the goals [were] so preventable,” Gladwin added.
“What the mind will do to the body is sometimes hard to understand, but being out there, when you’re not in a good place, you decide to turn down.
“You hit it and it gets blocked, or goes in Row Z, so next time, you turn it down – psychology really does have a huge part to play.
“Currently, the boys aren’t in the best place and that is the reality, so we have to try and help them.”
