Newport County 4-1 AFC Wimbledon
Neal Ardley felt his AFC Wimbledon side did not deserve to lose by such a large margin at Newport County.
Goals from former Don Ismail Yakubu and a Joe Piggott double had Newport 3-0 up half way through the second half.
Adebayo Akinfenwa pulled one back for Wimbledon but Aaron O’Connor’s injury time strike rounded off a one-sided scoreline Ardley felt was unfair.
He said: “It wasn’t a 4-1. I know that was the final result but that was a result of chasing a game.
“They scored from a set piece in the first half and I said at half time there was nothing to choose between us.
“The moment that changed the game was straight after half time. One minute we are in their box trying to score next thing we are two goals behind.
“That’s not good enough and I have told my players that.
“From that point on we were chasing the game and when that happens you are always in dangers of conceding more goals.
“The third goal we couldn’t do much about because it took a wicked deflection on the way in but the fourth was a poor goal from our perspective.”
Despite defeat, Ardley was encouraged by his side’s fighting spirit in the second-half, when they scored through Akinfenwa’s header.
“We showed desire, effort and energy to get back into the game,” said Ardley.
“Matt Tubbs missed a great chance when it was 3-1 and Ade Azeez had a goal ruled out for a dubious offside.
“I don’t look at it and think that we are a poor team and we got pummelled. We chased the game and conceded rubbish goals.”
Ardley was also again delighted with the performance of in-form striker Akinfenwa.
“He’s unplayable when on form and he could have scored another couple of goals,” he said.
“At 3-0 down he was disappointed with the goals we had conceded and I told him to be a leader.
“He certainly was because he helped out at the back and was trying to make things happen at the other end.”
