Dons skipper Dean Lewington was as surprised as anyone to see his right-footed wondergoal fly into the net at Hartlepool on Saturday - setting the Dons on their way to a 3-1 win.

Left-back Lewie put the old swinger to great use at Victoria Park, curling into the top corner from 20 yards to open the scoring eight minutes before half-time.

Team-mate Mark Wright doubled the misery on 10-man 'Pools before the break and young debutant Daniel Powell sealed the points in injury time after Sean O'Hanlon's own-goal had pulled the home side back into it.

Lewington's goal was his first in nearly two years for the Dons - his last having come at Notts County in February 2007 - and he says that's a record he'd like to improve on.

He said: "Scoring with the right was pretty vintage I have to say! I probably should have hit it with my left foot but I checked back inside, had a go with the right and it just kept going up and up!

"I didn't think it would even reach the goal to be honest, they don't normally when I use my right foot!

"I would like to score more goals - I enjoy shooting from distance and I hit the woodwork a couple of times last year.

"It's not easy keeping up with some of our wingers so it can be hard to overlap! But full-backs are a bit more attacking now and if I can chip in with a couple of goals here and there then great."

Saturday's win, the Dons' fourth in a row, leaves them handily-placed in League 1 - fourth in the table and just two points behind leaders Scunthorpe.

Their success so far this season has been built on a combination of high-tempo passing and battling qualities and Lewie says he was pleased to see the latter in plentiful supply in the north east.

He said: "We were a bit disappointed with the way we played in the second half. We needed to maintain what we'd been doing in the first half but that goal straight away gave them a bit of momentum. We made it a bit difficult for ourselves.

"We know we're a good passing team, but today we stood up to long balls and everything they could throw at us. It's nice to do it the ugly way sometimes.

"Victoria Park is a very hard place to come to and Hartlepool are a tough team to play against so we were delighted to get the three points."