What we learnt from AFC Wimbledon’s 1-1 draw with Newport – Johnnie Jackson’s side stretch their League Two unbeaten run to nine games

Laurence Lowne reports from Plough Lane:

Coming into this match off an eight-game unbeaten run, confidence was high in the Wimbledon camp even though some players had reported illness prior to Christmas as a bug infected some of the squad.

Paris Maghoma was a continued absence due to injury. But fellow Brentford loanee Nathan Young-Coombes made the bench as a substitute as he returned to action following a layoff since September.

Much has been written about the dark arts of football, and Newport County are up there knowing how to break up a game. 

But the visitors were aided and abetted by a referee, who appeared intent on stopping for every niggle, tackle and comment, but then missing blatant assaults on Ayoub Assal all through the first half, from as early as the first minute.

The referee even found time to penalise Jack Currie for not taking a throw-in from the correct place and then letting the Newport player do exactly the same.

Referee Paul Howard would have an even greater impact in the second half.

Firstly seeming to play advantage after yet another foul on Assal, who then was brought down in the penalty box. However, the referee brought the action back to the first offence rather than pointing to the spot. Strange indeed.

Ethan Chislett had the last laugh, finding the net for 1-0 with a sublime curling free-kick – his sixth league goal. A tremendous strike.

Then it all changed.

Kyle Hudlin was deemed to have head-butted an opponent and shown a red card.

Minutes later, a Newport player stumbled over the ball he was controlling in the penalty box, and the referee decreed Wimbledon defender Huseyin Biler had fouled him.

At the time, it appeared absurd, and the replays make it looks worse.

An already feisty affair of a match was turned on its head as Newport were now drawing with a numerical advantage, and they poured forward, looking for an unlikely and undeserved winner.

Credit where credit is due, this Wimbledon team are made of sterner stuff compared with earlier in the season and extended their unbeaten League run to nine games.

What we learnt:

• An unbeaten run of nine League games gives the team belief, especially in the face of adversity that was clearly created by the referee’s actions. 
• Harry Pell and Alex Woodyard covered acres as they kept a tight rein on their opponents in midfield.
• The back four in front of Nik Tzanev have speed, awareness and confidence – it was only a controversial penalty award that broke the clean sheet run.
• Free kicks can win matches, and Ethan Chislett knows how to take one. His wonderful strike lit up this match – sheer poetry.
• The best referees are rarely seen in the centre of the action –  Paul Howard was seen too much.
• Whether Wimbledon will appeal Kyle Hudlin’s red card may be down to his parent club, Huddersfield Town.

PICTURES: LUCY DIXON