‘Dodgy’ – Johnnie Jackson disappointed over Newcastle penalty decision as AFC Wimbledon exit EFL Cup

Johnnie Jackson was left fuming that his AFC Wimbledon side were knocked out of the EFL Cup on Tuesday night against Newcastle following a “dodgy” penalty decision.

Referee Darren Bond awarded a penalty to the Premier League side in first-half stoppage time when Miguel Almiron went down in the box following a challenge of Leyton Orient loanee Joe Pigott.

Bond initially looked to have waived away the claims from Eddie Howe’s side until the linesman raised his flag to signal for a foul.

Fabian Schar stepped up to score the only goal of the game and book Newcastle’s spot in the round of 16.

Jackson’s side only had two shots during the 90 minutes – with none registering on target – but kept Newcastle’s attacking force relatively frustrated throughout.

“I’m fuming to be honest,” said Jackson.

“The first one is a dive so it should be a free-kick and yellow card.

“Then there’s a break in play and another coming together and about three or four passes after that, he hasn’t given it, he’s in a good position, then the linesman decides to get involved.

“Like we’re not up against it enough coming here as the underdog, we don’t need a linesman getting involved, the referee is there to referee the game.

“I’m angry about that one. I don’t see that happening at the other end. For that to be the difference in the game tells you a lot about my team.

“The way we went about our game plan and task, Newcastle know they’ve been in a real game.

“Credit to my boys. The gulf in divisions and quality is obvious but I think we closed that gap as a team tonight and frustrated them.

“It says a lot about my team that I’m disappointed we haven’t got something from it or forced it to penalties because the effort deserved that. I know they dominated the play but we stayed in the game, made a fight of it and lost to a dodgy penalty.”

PICTURE: PA