Newport’s draw at Wimbledon leaves both managers feeing short-changed

Both managers were left feeling their sides deserved the three points after Newport came from behind to secure a 1-1 draw at AFC Wimbledon.

Ethan Chislett gave the Dons the lead 10 minutes into the second half at Plough Lane with a sublime free-kick into the top right corner.

However, less than 10 minutes later Wimbledon found themselves down to 10 men when Kyle Hudlin was sent off for a headbutt on Aaron Lewis and moments after Offrande Zanzala levelled the scores from the penalty spot after Nathan Moriah-Welsh drew a foul.

After his team played for more than 20 minutes against 10-man Wimbledon, Newport manager Graham Coughlan said:

“I’m not really happy with just a point, to be honest, I would have wanted to win the game and I felt we should have won the game.”

“I’m sounding like a broken record at the moment, the number of times I am coming out after games and saying we should have won…

“I am pleased that we have come away from the game with no serious injuries, it was a battle and a scrap, and we stood up to the challenge and we stood up to the battle.

“I think we deserved a point; we didn’t play very well in the first half, we looked like a team that was rusty and hadn’t played in two weeks.

“Our preparation coming into this game was not ideal, but again the lads showed what they are made of, they rolled their sleeves up and they battled so I am pleased with that.”

Nine matches

The draw extends Wimbledon’s unbeaten run to nine matches but their manager Johnnie Jackson admitted he found it hard not to take all three points.

He said: “I’m proud of the boys because I think that penalty given against us is an absolute scandal.

“The fact we are sitting here with a point after a really well-worked goal, we then go down to 10 men, defend well and then they are given the opportunity from the softest penalty you will ever see, it’s hard to take.

“It was a scrappy affair to be honest, I thought it was two hard-working teams, there was no rhythm to the game really and I think the referee lost control of it pretty early.

“We produced a real moment of magic to get ourselves into the lead – it was a great goal from Ethan, we know he has the ability from those situations, and we get a lot because of the players we have out wide.

“But the fact we have scored the type of goal that we have and then conceded the one that we have at the other end is tough to take really.”