AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Newport County – Wimbledon survive a draw.
In front of a bumper Christmas crowd of 7784, AFC Wimbledon drew 1-1 with Newport County at the Cherry Red Records Stadium on Boxing Day.
A late Offrande Zanzala penalty cancelled out Ethan Chislett’s opener as the Dons missed out on the chance to move closer to the League Two playoff spots.
Wimbledon made just one change from their last league game but altered their formation to 4-4-2. Newport replaced Omar Boyle with Zanzala but stuck to the same formation that they played in their defeat to Doncaster Rovers last time out.
There were no shots on target for either side in the first 15 minutes but the away fans were in full voice, encouraging County from the first whistle.
Wimbledon had more possession than Newport and were more direct with the ball while Newport relied on playing long balls up the pitch.
The Dons began to create better chances as half-time approached, and it led to them having a couple of free kicks that they were not quite able to put it into the net.
The Ports finally got into the game not long after, having some joy down either flank.
However, goalkeeper Joe Day made a mistake that nearly gifted Wimbledon a goal but he recovered to concede a corner.
Newport seemed to wake up and had more clear-cut chances towards the end of the first half.
In the second half both teams seemed to have the fighting edge to get the first goal.
Newport County had started as they did in the last 10 minutes of the second half. They were strong and aggressive but gave away another free kick which lead to Ethan Chislett scoring a beautiful goal.
Wimbledon became more direct following the goal, pressuring the ball more to have more of an impact on the game.
The game became bad tempered – Kyle Hudlin made a challenge in open play and got a red card.
The atmosphere didn’t change when Offrande Zanzala scored a controversial penalty to make it 1-1.
Wimbledon still defended well when down to ten men, but Newport passed up several good chances to go 2-1 up.
Wimbledon defended for their lives to keep the score 1-1 to the very end, and still tried to get up the pitch to score a second goal.
Both teams were worthy of a point in this game as overall it was a even affair. The draw means the Dons may be one step closer to get that playoff position come the end of the season.
