AFC Wimbledon supporters should be walking into work today proud of their club, according to manager Neal Ardley.

The Dons held Leyton Orient to a 1-1 draw at the Matchroom Stadium on Saturday as Bayo Akinfenwa struck in the last 10 minutes to cancel out Jay Simpson’s opener.

It was nothing more than Wimbledon deserved as they had been knocking on the door after Simpson’s early strike had given Orient a slender lead to protect in this London derby.

Ardley felt his side deserved more than just a point given their dominance but admitted he was beginning to dread his post-match media duties as he stared down the barrel of a defeat.

However, the Beast came to the rescue by latching onto Ade Azeez’s cross and heading home the leveller to make life a little easier for the Kingsmeadow chief.

Shots: Leyton Orient 1-1 AFC Wimbledon

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“I’m proud of the group,” Ardley explained to Dons Player. “I’m proud of the energy and the effort that they give and I really hope that the fans look and are happy with their team. They won’t be happy that we haven’t won the game but they’ll be happy with the effort and the commitment.

“What we’ve got to do is make sure we keep picking up points and this has been a tough week on the back of some good weeks in the past that have got us into good positions. It’s been a tough week but we’ve got a little break now and we need to make sure we go strong into Christmas.

“We totally deserved all three points. I think for the first 25 minutes they were a bit snappier than us. They’ve won too many individual battles and they’ve won a couple of aerial battles on the diagonal balls and they’ve taken the one good chance they’ve had.

“I can’t fault the boys, they kept going, the fans were unbelievable today as they willed everything on as they could see two full-backs playing as wingers and we ended up with four strikers in the box, but it’s so difficult when the opposition put six or seven players across a line.”

Corners: Leyton Orient 1-1 AFC Wimbledon

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Those tough weeks Ardley alluded to have been reflected in Wimbledon’s set of results for November, with no victories to show for their efforts this month.

Three draws, a League Two loss to Dagenham & Redbridge and an FA Cup exit to non-league Forest Green Rovers have made it a difficult time for the Dons.

That loss to Rovers means Ardley’s boys take a breather this weekend and the boss hopes having time to recharge the batteries will make it a December to remember.

“We were good on Tuesday,” Ardley added of the Daggers loss. “We’re a far better team than them and we should have won comfortably and we should have done today, but we’re disappointed we’ve only got one point from two games because we should have had six.”

Possession Percentages: Leyton Orient 1-1 AFC Wimbledon

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