NEWPORT County AFC head coach Nelson Jardim is confident there are 'better days to come' for the club after watching his players secure another point on the road on Tuesday night, writes Andrew Penman.

County fought back from 2-0 down to earn a 2-2 draw at AFC Wimbledon thanks to Michael Spellman’s first-half strike and Shane McLoughlin’s 97th-minute penalty.

After 38 games without a draw between January and October, the Exiles have now shared the spoils in four of their last five League Two games to leave them 16th in the table.

Jardim’s men are six points below the play-off places and eight points clear of the bottom two before they host 23rd-placed Carlisle United at Rodney Parade on Saturday.

“It’s a really good point for us,” said the Portuguese after McLoughlin’s last-gasp leveller.

“We knew this was one of the games that was going to be difficult. The last two away games, Notts County and then coming here, that’s two good points.

“When you keep playing our style and our way, in the end that pays off and it was a well-deserved point.

“The only downside of the performance was that we didn’t control as well as we should the [Wimbledon] set-plays. That’s something we have been doing well but didn’t do as well today, but some credit to the opposition who work hard on set-plays and do it very well. That shows we have to improve.

“Not everything was perfect,” added Jardim. “But I think it’s a positive feeling coming to this place, one of the teams who surely are going to be pushing promotion, and I think doing what we did shows we are in a good way.”

Jardim was particularly pleased with the spirit shown by his side after falling 2-0 behind inside 20 minutes.

“We’ve shown character a number of times this season and we had to show that once again tonight,” said the Exiles boss.

“It shows the culture we’re trying to build here. We’ve got a good group of young players and a good group of characters in the dressing room.”

And Jardim believes there are good signs of progress from his team before the frantic festive fixture list kicks in.

“I have full confidence in all the players here,” he added. “If you want to play like we are trying to, you have to feel that from your coach – otherwise it’s impossible.

“We keep going, keep improving. We know it’s not going to be a stable progression, and we will have a dip here and there, but as long as we keep going and moving forward, I feel like there are better days to come.”