Neal Ardley admitted his Notts County side had to “dig in” to secure victory over Dagenham as they moved to within touching distance of the National League play-offs.
The Magpies were 2-0 winners at Meadow Lane where stunning strikes from Regan Booty and Kristian Dennis earned all three points.
But Notts had to show great resilience at times and were indebted to two fine saves from goalkeeper Sam Slocombe to deny Reece Grant.
In the end Dennis’ wonderful strike from outside the box gave them the cushion Ardley was searching for and he praised a solid night’s work.
“We can get over critical sometimes,” he said.
“It felt like there were three different games within the 90 minutes.
“For 25 and 30, we were moving the ball around trying to find holes.
“They sat in and I don’t know whether that’s a compliment because they’ve watched us.
“We got the goal but I didn’t think we played forward enough.
“Then they press a little bit harder and get a bit of joy.
“I knew the second half was going to be a lot tougher.
“We had to dig in and show a little bit of spirit and we still had two or three really good chances.”
