Newport County 3-3 AFC Wimbledon

After his half-time trio of changes inspired the defeat of Hayes on New Year's Day, manager Terry Brown again underlined his effective decision-making this afternoon in Newport.

Brave Wimbledon pulled a point out of the bag when hope looked lost to keep Crawley at arm's length.

Less than two minutes after being introduced, midfielder Rashid Yussuff struck in the snow to pinch a draw in a thrill-a-minute match that seemed to be beyond them.

It looked for all the world like the Dons first league defeat since the mid November visit to Barrow following a error-strewn first 45 minutes in south Wales.

3-1 down at the break and with Newport rampant, the leaders got their act together after what was surely a half-time rocket from boss Brown.

The manager said before that a point from this game represented a good return and he certainly wasn't wrong following this spirited comeback, sealed by substitute Yussuff, his second goal in three games.

The celebrations were a far cry from an hour before when Wimbledon were wilting against their pacey promotion rivals, capitalising on some generous defending that gifted Dean Holdsworth's team at least two of their three goals.

The first didn't take long to arrive. On ten minutes, returning Sam Hatton failed to cope with Exiles targetman Robbie Matthews and the ball eventually fell loose to Welshman Chris Todd, who lashed past Seb Brown to open the scoring.

Eight minutes later and disaster struck for the title chasers. Steven Gregory's powerful shot cannoned off County captain Gary Warren and with Wimbledon over committed to the attack the break was on.

Craig Reid played Graeme Montgomery in out left and the former Wealdstone man fed Jamie Collins with Brown's fingertips not able to prevent the ball squirming over his line for 2-0.

Hope was around the corner for the visitors once Newport left-back Alan Goodall misjudged his header. Luke Moore picked out James Mulley and the new signed placed his second goal in two outings beyond Glyn Thompson.

But Wimbledon undid that good work ten minutes before half-time. From the excellent Darryl Knights' corner, Collins went unnoticed and nodded into the bottom corner for a 3-1 lead.

The Dons weren't helped by the withdrawal in the warm-up of defender Ismail Yakubu but Fraser Franks and Ed Harris were like strangers.

They improved in the second half as did their team-mates as it was Newport's turn to make mistakes.

The first belonged to their keeper Thompson who allowed Hatton's free-kick two minutes into the second period to escape his grasp.

County should have stretched their lead when Franks switched off again and allowed Newport top scorer Reid in – the striker hit the post to the frustration of the huge home crowd.

But it was the Wimbledon fans freezing at the far end of the stadium that would have the last laugh.

Danny Kedwell, again at the forefront of all that was good about the Dons, toe-poked the ball through the legs of Warren and there was Yussuff to thrash the ball into Thompson's bottom left-hand corner two minutes after coming on.

Both sides had chances to pinch it with Mark Nwokeji's burst leaving Christian Jolley a toe-nail away from a heart-stopping conclusion.