Neal Ardley praised his AFC Wimbledon players after a 2-0 win over 10-man Newport County.

Adebayo Akinfenwa scored once in each half at the CRRS, but also missed from the spot after Kevin Feely was red-carded for a foul on George Francomb in the box.

Saturday’s win leaves Wimbledon unbeaten in three League Two games ahead of a busy run of seven fixtures in 28 days.

Ardley said: "It was a good performance. We went one up and Newport made it hard and they penned us in a bit.

"You always feel like you are on edge, so in the second half we wanted to be a bit braver and make sure our quality shone through. I think we started the second half a lot better.

“The penalty moment could have been a game-changing moment, with them being down to 10 men.

“It didn’t work out like that but we got the goal in the end, and for Newport chasing the game while down to 10 men was very tough."

Akinfenwa almost opened the scoring after five minutes as he flashed a header just wide of Joe Day's post after Barry Fuller's cross.

Wimbledon Times:

Bang: Adebayo Akinfenwa opens the scoring against Newport County on Saturday

But he made no mistake with his next opportunity, drilling a powerful header past Day from Sean Rigg's deep cross.

David Connolly almost scored on his full Dons debut when he pulled a shot wide before the break.

Referee Dean Whitestone brandished a red card before pointing to the spot when last-man Feely felled Francomb after 56 minutes.

But the Beast's spot-kick was too casual, allowing Day to make a straightforward save.

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Akinfenwa atoned for that miss on 72 minutes, latching onto a Francomb cross to stab home from close range for his 11th league goal of the season to seal the win.

Ardley singled out Adedeji Oshilaja and Will Nightingale - who went off injured at half-time - after an assured Dons defensive display.

“The two young centre halves stood up really well. I thought Adedeji Oshilaja was absolutely immense today," said Ardley.

"When I signed him and said that he wasn’t 6ft 4 people said that he might not be able to do it in this league, but he showed today he can. "He has an unbelievable spring and wins most of his headers.”

He added: “We feel we have a really big squad and I planned the week before this game to rest and rotate players and I’m going to try to stick to my plan.”