Johnnie Jackson was left reeling by the referee after AFC Wimbledon were held to a 1-1 draw by Newport in Sky Bet League Two.

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.

It extends the Dons’ unbeaten run to nine matches but Jackson 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.”

Newport manager Graham Coughlan felt equally disappointed to be leaving with a point after his side played more than 20 minutes against 10 men.

“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,” he said.

“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.”