"Incredible" was the word Norwich City boss Martin Herdman used to describe his team after a 2-0 victory over promotion rivals AFC Wimbledon took them to within three points of the Women's National League Division One South East summit.

Natasha Snelling netted a well-taken double at The Nest on Sunday to see off the high-flying Dons, whose only previous league defeat this term had come at the start of September.

The result was a hugely significant one, as while Wimbledon remain as league leaders, City are now firmly on their tail having played one game fewer.

Reflecting on a successful afternoon's work, Herdman said: "We put belief into the girls this week that they could beat Wimbledon, and by Thursday they really believed. Today, apart from the first 10 minutes when they hit the crossbar, I thought we were incredible.

"They are a good team, no doubt about it. If they'd scored that first goal, it's a different game, so sometimes it's fine margins.

"I think tactically we were spot on today. We had a specific plan that we executed pretty well.

"You give the girls a plan now and they live it out. They can look after themselves and they adapt. Like first half we were on the ball, front-foot pressing, (then in the) second half we were dropping off.

"Kudos to the girls once again, they keep doing it."

Having only been knocked out of the FA Cup a little over a week ago, the City head coach was especially impressed by his side's response to that disappointment.

"I think it was just the unknown," Herdman said. "We didn't play very well last week, we just went through the motions, and you just don't know if that's going to happen again.

Eastern Daily Press: Megan Todd gives chase during the win over the Dons at The Nest

"You don't know how the girls are going to turn up, and after the first 10 minutes I thought it could be dicey, but then the game turned.

"Me and Nathan (Pauling) the assistant coach were laughing because it's almost like once the girls have a fight picked with them, they start to have a fight. And all of a sudden the tackles were going in, the rain was lashing down, the floodlights were on and they started to really enjoy it.

"Where does it (the performance) rank? It's up there. Is it number one? I don't know, potentially, because there was a wobble last week, and they've shown resilience to come back from it."

The Canaries' mental toughness is something that two-goal hero Snelling was also keen to highlight.

She said: "I think off the back of the loss in the FA Cup, it's always a downer, but it's just the mentality of the players, how we've picked ourselves up to go again.

"We just said, 'right, the cup's done now, we need to go and focus on the league', and that's what we did. The warm-up was buzzing, the start of the game was buzzing, and it just proved on the pitch, and that's why we got the three points.

"We've been in all sorts of conditions, we just have to play our game. Whatever the conditions, we just stick to what we know, stick to our game, and it'll come through."

Eastern Daily Press: Sarah Quantrill takes control of the situation during the Canaries' win on Sunday

Snelling's two first half efforts on her return to City's starting XI took her into double figures for the season in terms of goals, which she was thrilled about having gone three games without scoring.

"I think that's what a number nine should do," she stated. "They should be in the box, they should be getting on crosses. So yeah, so happy they both went in.

"I think everyone deserves to get a chance, it's minutes in the legs really, so if we can rotate, we'll try and rotate. But yeah, when I got (told I was) starting, I just wanted to go and prove (myself).

"We expected a hard game, but as you can see, the girls gave absolutely everything."

Norwich City (3-4-1-2): Quantrill; Larkins (c), Flye, Strauss; Parker, Morran, Knights, Tomlinson; Todd (Symonds 71); Smith (Lawrence 35 (Hailes 90+4)), Snelling (Daviss 87). Sub not used: Shaw.