AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Newport County - Offrande Zanzala penalty rescues visitors at 10-man Dons

Scot Bennett of Newport County reacts during the game against AFC Wimbledon

Offrande Zanzala rescued a point from the penalty spot for Newport County in a dramatic festive League Two encounter at AFC Wimbledon.

Ethan Chislett broke the deadlock for the hosts after the break, striking from a well-taken free-kick.

Drama followed as the hosts' Kyle Hudlin was red-carded for violent conduct in the 66th minute.

Soon after Nathan Moriah-Welsh was fouled in the penalty area and Zanzala made no mistake to earn the draw.

The game went ahead despite the hosts' sound system failing ahead of kick-off. Police and club officials agreed it could go ahead while the serving of alcohol was stopped for the day with "crowd safety" in mind.

Newport County boss Graham Coughlan:

"I wasn't really pleased with the point. I'd have liked to have won the game to be honest. I thought we should have won the game, but I'm sounding like a broken record, the amount of times I've stood in front of you guys (the media) after games and said we should have won.

"I'm pleased we've come away with no injuries, no serious injuries, because that game had potential to produce serious injuries.

"It wasn't nice at times to be honest and it's not what I want to be in the game for and I'm sure not what my players want to be in the game for. But at the end of the day it was a battle, a fight, a scrap and we stood up to the challenge."