By Jack Whittaker at Plough Lane
A controversial 2-2 stalemate saw AFC Wimbledon slip out of the League Two play-off places, as Newport County completed their comeback with the last kick of the game at Plough Lane on Tuesday.
Wimbledon were two goals to the good after 20 minutes, with Alistair Smith and Matty Stevens on the scoresheet after Newport struggled to deal with James Tilley’s set-pieces.
The Welsh outfit responded through Michael Spellman, who smartly finished low to goalkeeper Owen Goodman’s left, after the Dons were caught in possession by Bryn Morris.
Isaac Ogundere thought he had scored his first senior goal after his thunderous strike whistled in off the bar, but referee Lee Swabey brought back play for a foul, much to the outrage of the Dons bench.
In the last minute of stoppage-time, Newport’s Kyle Jameson went down under the challenge of Huseyin Biler to win his side a spot-kick, which was converted by County’s captain and former Don, Shane McLoughlin.
The penalty decision was the boiling point for Johnnie Jackson who saw red.
Dons Assistant Manager Terry Skiverton said: “Not [a problem with] the penalty at the end but certainly our goal from the corner, we’re still looking at it now to try and find what was wrong with it
“We just can’t understand. I think we’ve had two or three goals from corners, I think it’s because we’re quite a big side.
“They give fouls against us and they’re not there, we definitely need to have a look at it and send in what we think are perfectly good goals.”
The Dons were dangerous all evening from set-pieces with Ogundere’s disallowed strike arriving after a flurry of corners from Tilley, all of which caused chaos in the Newport penalty area.
After petering out towards the end of the first half they asserted their dominance in the second and barely gave the visitors a sniff until the final moments when they began to throw caution to the wind.
Skiverton added: “We were really pleased with the shifts that the players coming in from the cold put in and we think they deserved more from the game.
“We’ll dust ourselves down. We’re Wimbledon, we’ve got that spirit. One thing the players are doing is they’re running, blocking, fighting and tackling and they’ll keep doing that”
The Dons are now winless in their last six at home after recent injury woes have left them with a threadbare squad.
Skiverton has branded them as outsiders in the promotion race but they’re still in the mix, with Harrogate away up next at 3pm on Saturday.
