Newport 1 Sandell 5&#8242: . Team badge of Burton Albion Burton 1 Symes 36&#8242: (pen) . FT 90 +8 HT 1-1 . Andy Sandell fires Newport County in front against Burton Albion 21 April 2014 Last changed at 17:01 Share this page ShareFacebookTwitter.print..Burton Albion's hopes of automatic promotion suffered a blow following a 1-1 draw at 15th-placed Newport. Andy Sandell gave the Exiles an early lead at Rodney Parade, blasting home a powerful shot from outside the area. Michael Symes equalised for the Brewers from the penalty spot after Dominic Knowles was fouled by County defender Darcy Blake. Burton, who are fifth, are now six points behind third-placed Rochdale with two games to go. Both sides pushed for a winner after the break and Alex MacDonald hit the post for Burton with a long-range effort. Albion goalkeeper Dean Lyness denied Sandell a second deep into injury time, keeping out his close-range header. Newport County assistant manager Jimmy Dack told BBC Radio Wales: I thought it was a very soft penalty. We saw it at half-time and the referee didn't have a good view of it. I thought he made a big decision and it was a costly decision on our behalf. Burton Albion manager Gary Rowett told BBC Radio Derby: Play media Reaching the play-offs is a really good achievement. It was always going to be difficult to do that, particularly at the start of the season after losing the players we did. After a very, very poor start, it took us ten minutes or so to get going and we found ourselves one-nil down within that ten minutes. We got back into the game and we settled down a little bit. They started the second half a little bit brighter, but in the last twenty-five minutes we got into some really good positions. Unfortunately, we weren't able to nick the win, which I think would have been a little unfair on Newport too, because they're a tough, physical side and I thought that was a really committed performance from them. Lineup, Bookings (3) & Substitutions (6) Newport County 01 Pidgeley 18 Jackson 12 Willmott 04 Porter 16 Blake 13 Sandell Booked 23 Jolley (Chapman - 64' ) 08 Minshull (Jeffers - 76' ) 20 Feely 17 Flynn (O'Connor - 57' ) 11 Zebroski Substitutes 03 Hughes 07 Chapman 10 O'Connor 14 Jeffers 24 Amadi-Holloway 33 McLoughlin Burton Albion 16 Lyness 26 Gray Booked 15 McFadzean 07 Bell 06 Sharps 21 Holness 12 Hemmings (MacDonald - 61' Booked ) 23 Palmer 28 Symes (Kee - 78' ) 18 Knowles (Harness - 72' ) 17 Phillips Substitutes 01 Lainton 02 Edwards 09 Alexander 11 MacDonald 24 Slade 27 Harness 29 Kee Ref: Brendan Malone Att: 2,630