Neal Ardley praised his side for putting the hysteria surrounding the forthcoming FA Cup tie with Liverpool to one side today to beat York City.

The Dons, who will play Brendan Rodgers’ side in January, recorded their first win on the road since August to keep struggling York City waiting for their first home win.

Goals from Jake Goodman, Sean Rigg and Matt Tubbs, all created by architect George Francomb, secured a 3-2 victory for the Dons at Bootham Crescent.

There is a real buzz around Kingsmeadow as the club prepares to welcome Steven Gerrard and the Reds but Ardley believes his team showed true professionalism at York.

"It would be naïve of me to say that we've totally switched off from the FA cup draw with Liverpool - we all know what's there,” Ardley told BBC London.

"Mine and my staff's jobs has been to get the players focused and we did that and we really revved them up again before the game today.

"The shift the boys put in today was great, they were out on their feet. They were literally running on fumes at the end there but they've done the club proud."

Goodman, on loan from Millwall, bagged his first goal for the club to open the scoring when he headed home a Francomb corner.

York fans had to wait until 55 minutes for something to cheer about as Diego De Girolama blasted past James Shea after some sloppy Wimbledon defending.

The Minstermen, roared on by their fans, could have gone on and won it from there but Ardley’s Dons are made of stern stuff these days.

And two goals in two minutes from first Rigg and then Tubbs put the result beyond doubt, with Stephane Zubar grabbing a late consolation for the hosts.