AFC Wimbledon were held to a draw against Conference South Eastleigh on a wet and miserable November afternoon. The Dons now face a replay at Eastleigh's Silverlake Stadium on Tuesday night for the right to meet Aldershot away in the 1st Round proper of the FA Trophy.

The Dons boss Dave Anderson missed the game through illness and his assistant, John Turner, took over for the afternoon as the home side made two changes from the midweek win over Ashford Town. Steve Butler replaced the injured Antony Howard and Simon Sweeney returned at right back with Steve Wales moving to right midfield. This meant young prospect Robin Shroot, who was to have an eventful afternoon, dropped to the bench.

The early stages of the game were rather tame for such an important cup tie with Eastleigh having the majority of the possession. Prolific striker Andy Forbes tested Andy Little with a low drive from the edge of the box and Danny Smith's close range effort was hit straight at the Dons keeper.

The Dons suffered a blow when Steve Watson went up for a header and collapsed to the turf clearly in some discomfort. After a lengthy stoppage the Dons midfielder was taken off on a stretcher and would later receive treatment for concussion at a local hospital. Robin Shroot came on to play on the right of the midfield with Steve Wales moving into the middle alongside Wes Daly.

Around 20 minutes in the Dons forced their first decent chance when Dsane was played through by Haswell only for his shot to be hit straight at Pullen in the Eastleigh goal. Wimbledon were now starting to find their feet and further chances quickly followed. Firstly Jermaine Darlington ran onto a good pass from Wes Daly before firing a left foot shot just wide of the post. Moments later a dangerous ball into the box saw Dsane challenge Pullen as the home side started to get on top.

As half time approached the game changed on two incidents in quick succession. Firstly the Eastleigh forward James Brown was shown the red card for an elbow on Haswell. From the resulting free kick the ball was cleared by the Eastleigh defence to Forbes who ran towards the penalty area before squaring the ball to his right for the onrushing Darren Wheeler to fire home. From being a man down the visitors were a goal up and the Dons had to regroup as the half time whistle blew.

The rain lashed down as the second half began in a much more positive fashion for the home side who went on the attack from the off, trying to make the most of the man advantage. In the midfield, Wales and Daly began to take control and linked up well with the wide men Darlington and Shroot. However, Eastleigh stood firm and manager for the day Turner decided to replace Fitzgerald with Darren Grieves to freshen up the attack.

The move almost paid immediate dividends as a long ball by Sweeney was flicked on by Grieves towards Dsane. The Dons top scorer managed to go past the keeper but failed to get a shot in before running the ball out of play. Moments later Grieves was almost on the end of a Wales cross as the home side increased the pressure.

Just over 20 minutes from time the Dons pressure finally paid off with the equalising goal from the best move of the match. Robin Shroot won the ball in midfield and set off on a run which took him past two players before finding Wes Daly. Daly then played the ball onto the flank for the onrushing Sweeney. The low cross from the Dons right back was perfect for Roscoe Dsane who had the simple task of firing home from close range. With a man advantage and 20 minutes to go the Dons would now fancy their chances of winning the tie. However, the man advantage was quickly eliminated as the referee saw fit to give Robin Shroot his second yellow card for the offence of "over celebrating" in the aftermath of the goal.

The sending off clearly knocked the stuffing out of the Dons in the period that followed as they lost the momentum that had built up in the period prior to the goal. In the final 10 minutes the home sides only chance of note fell to Darren Grieves who could only shoot straight at the keeper.

So honours even on the day and the Dons must do it all again on Tuesday night as they aim for a trip to Aldershot on December 16.