AFC Wimbledon boss Mark Robinson was full of praise for his side after a second-half stoppage-time goal from Ayoub Assal clinched all three points in a seven-goal thriller against Morecambe at the Mazuma Stadium.

Anthony Hartigan gave the Dons an early lead before Cole Stockton and Shane McLoughlin put the home team ahead with two early second-half goals.

Ethan Chislett made it 2-2 with a right-footed volley just after the hour before Stockton scored from 40 yards out to complete his brace and put Morecambe ahead again after seeing Nikola Tzanev off his line.

Will Nightingale levelled with a close-range header from Hartigan’s free-kick before Assal scored a sensational winner three minutes into injury time.

After Assal’s stunning strike, Robinson said: “I thought the first half was the best we have played all season.

“For the first 25 minutes we were unbelievable. The speed of our play was excellent and we should have had more goals at the break.

“Credit to Morecambe though as they came back and had a good 10 minutes to take the lead in the second half but – after we conceded – we got straight back at it and kept going.

“We showed a lot of character and belief in our style of play and what we are doing and there was so much for us to be pleased about.

“There are some areas that we will have to look at and pick the bones out of them but overall, everyone was excellent and I don’t think anyone had a bad game.”

Morecambe boss Stephen Robinson admitted he would have a “sleepless” few days after his side’s defeat.

He said: “We worked all week on set-pieces and conceded four of them.

“Wimbledon have scored from the most set-pieces in the league and they have scored another four today. It was hard to take and I’ll be set for a few sleepless nights.

“If you are a defender you have to make first contact and we didn’t make enough first contacts all day and if you don’t defend set-pieces properly, you don’t deserve to win games and too many people didn’t play to the best of their ability.

“Going forward there were some good points and Cole Stockton’s goal was incredible.

“At the back though we were bullied and at the end of the day, if you score three goals at home you should win the game.”