NEWPORT coach David Rees breathed a huge sigh of relief as his side scraped to victory at Newbridge last night.

In a dour game that can only be described as a 'typical Gwent derby' Newport ground out a victory against a Newbridge side that grew in confidence as the game went on.

Indeed, had Newbridge been more clinical in their finishing they could well have inflicted the first defeat of the season on their visitors.

Instead Newport made it six wins from six, a return that will please Rees and the Newport faithful who made up the majority of last night's crowd at the Welfare Ground.

Last season's Premier Division champions could have found themselves trailing at the break after impressive outside-centre Jonathan Williams' converted try had put his side in front after Daniel Griffiths had given Newport a second minute lead with a penalty.

Williams' try gave Newbridge the belief they needed and just two minutes later they were denied another when the referee adjudged the final pass forward .

Soon after they could have again increased their lead but, with the line at his mercy, Newbridge winger Rob Allen knocked on.

So Newport had escaped and, as ever, they used their trusty 'get out of jail' card, scoring a try which has become their trademark.

They were awarded a penalty which Griffiths kicked to the corner and from the resulting line-out an unstoppable rolling maul enabled David Pattison to bundle over to give his side the lead.

Williams had a penalty opportunity with five minutes of the half left but missed and his side were left to rue that missed opportunity as, on the stroke of half-time, Newport added their second try, Gareth Chapman diving over in the corner after Rhys Shorney's midfield break had resulted in him being stopped just short of the line.

The ball was recycled by the Newport backs and a flowing threequarter move ended in Chapman touching down to give Newport a 13-7 half-time lead.

The second half was a relative non-event until stoppage time when the game again exploded into life.

Williams kicked a penalty on the hour to make it 13-10, but both sides struggled for any sort of continuity as the forwards battled for control of the ball.

It took a flash of brilliance from second-half replacement Chris Thomas to settle matters.

In stoppage time the pint-sized winger beat several men with a darting run before off-loading in the tackle for flanker Nick Kelly to dive over in front of the posts.

Ricky Williams, who had taken over the kicking duties after Griffiths had gone off with a hip injury, sent over the extras and it looked like a 20-10 Newport win.

But Newbridge never gave up and outside-half Ross Watts finished off intense pressure for their second converted try, but it was too late.

Newbridge: C Wills, R Allen (G Owen 53), J Williams, P Jones, M Addis, R Watts, M Taylor (C Miller 46), A Oliver, L Davies, R Davies, W Sims (P Watkins 52), J Powell, G Gladwyn, M Ackerman (N Coles 40), S Greedy (S Coles 56). Scorers: tries: J Williams, R Watts; cons: Williams (2); pen: Williams. Yellow card: G Gladwyn.

Newport: R Williams, G Chapman, R Payne, R Shorney, A McLaughlan, D Griffiths (C Thomas), B Shelbourne (T Walsh 53), D Pattison (I Evans 55), J Richards (G Mason 70), S Cronk (G Robinson 40), D Davies, N Edwards, N Kelly, P Williams (S Marasco 72), S Waldron (M Popham 70) Scorers: tries: D Pattison, G Chapman, N Kelly; cons: R Williams, D Griffiths 1. Yellow card: D Davies.