Neal Ardley hailed his Notts County side as their impressive start to the National League season continued with a late win at Sutton United.
The Magpies had seen Enzio Boldewijn hit the bar in the first half, while Kyle Wootton was denied by Dean Bouzanis late on as the Magpies seemed destined for a point,
But they had the final say with the last kick of a hard-fought contest when Jimmy Knowles’ shot was saved only for Wootton to smash in his fourth goal of the campaign.
And Ardley was quick to praise his players for their resilience and hard work out of possession as they ended Sutton’s 100 per cent start to the season.
“How many clear cut chances did they have? Not one,” he said.
“They put crosses and had moments when you might be a little bit anxious but we defended our box brilliantly.
“We had four clear-cut chances. Did we deserve to win? Absolutely.
“We do our homework on the opposition, and the staff and I, didn’t say just go out there and play your stuff because we would have got beat if we did that.
“We had to be hard to beat on a wet and windy night on a fast pitch.
“Was we at our free-flowing best? No. But you don’t play brilliantly all the time. You have to dig in but we had four or five of the best chances in the game.
“There’s a real spirit in there.”
