Northampton Town got their Sky Bet League 2 Play-Off push back on track by beating Tranmere Rovers, and boss Chris Wilder was pleased his side started an ‘important week’ with a victory.
Ryan Cresswell's fourth goal of the season sealed Cobblers' 11th home win and the sixth on the bounce at Sixfields. Lawson D'Ath was denied by the woodwork in the first half but it took a superb save from Matt Duke to preserve all three points late on when he denied Janoi Donacien.And manager Chris Wilder was delighted with the way his players bounced back from their setback at Plymouth Argyle, which was only their second defeat in 12 outings, to edge closer to the Play-Offs.
He said: "I'm not one of those managers who say performances are more important than results at any stage of the season, especially at this point. It was just a case of getting the job done today.
"Tranmere are fighting for their lives and Micky Adams' teams always want to win games so we had to work very hard to get that result.
"It was a pretty open game - we were the better team in the first half but Tranmere were always a threat on the counter-attack with their pace.
"We had to work hard and compete without committing too many players forward and getting getting caught on the break. Our performances are based on work ethic, commitment and pressing the opposition, but it was hard to open them up.
"It was a game that was in the balance until the final whistle. We didn't want to settle for one goal, we wanted to go and get the second one and we put players on to get it.
"But Tranmere also made positive substitutions to get back into the game and our defenders had to be on their game. Matt Duke's save at the end of the game was fantastic and he's got the ability to make top drawer saves like that.
"We needed that win today; it's a very important week for us and it would have been a big disappointment not to have got all three points.
"Now we need to go for another three against Carlisle on Tuesday to get right back in the pack."