Newport County show they are ready to fight for survival

AFTER eight successive defeats this was, at long last, a step in the right direction for Newport County AFC.

Manager Graham Westley described it as a turning point for his new-look side but only time will tell if that’s true.

A tough trip to Barnet is around the corner and if County can repeat this determined performance there and come away from The Hive with another point before beating Hartlepool United and Cheltenham Town then there really will be hope that they can avoid relegation.

Cheltenham’s victory over Accrington Stanley means that the Exiles are now six points from safety.

But a 1-1 draw with play-off contenders Colchester United was better than many home fans would have been expecting and those at Rodney Parade will have been encouraged by the fight that their side showed.

The inspirational figure of David Pipe epitomised that fight and he showed exactly why Westley brought him back with a battling display that rallied his teammates and ensured that the supporters were fully behind the team.

The only exception to that were the murmurs of discontent after Darren Jones conceded another penalty and U’s skipper Chris Porter sent Joe Day the wrong way to cancel out Josh Sheehan’s opener before the break.

Jones was perhaps a little unfortunate as Kurtis Guthrie engineered the foul but his critics would say that the livewire forward was too quick and too clever for the veteran centre-back.

And there were few complaints from Jones or his teammates as referee Graham Salisbury pointed to the spot.

It was, incredibly, the 12th penalty that County have conceded so far this season and if Jones had not given Guthrie the chance to go over we may even have been talking about a hard-earned three points for Westley’s men.

Similarly, if substitute Tom Owen-Evans had been less honest and opted to go down in the box after an impressive run along the byline late on it could have been more than a point for the Exiles.

But the big positive is that this side did not crumble as they have done in recent weeks and months.

Many fans will have been fearing the worst once Colchester got back on level terms but even the final 10 minutes – so often heartbreak territory this season – passed relatively comfortably and, if anything, County looked the mostly likely to nick a win through Craig Reid (below).

“I probably don’t feel as delighted as I ought to because I trust the character of the players that we put the shirts on,” said Westley afterwards.

“They are good gritty professionals, a lot of them have played at very good levels and they know the game.

“You put a shirt on their back and think they are going to go and do a job.

“So it didn’t come into my mind that they wouldn’t react in the right way.

“Lesser men and lesser sides probably could have felt sorry for themselves at that stage.

“But I thought we got ourselves back together, we got on top of the game and as the game wore on I thought we were the better side.

“We had 30 good minutes at the end of the game at Stevenage, the signs were there,” he added.

“Today was another step on. There was more grit, more determination and more organisation at set-pieces.

“We defended solidly and at the other end we always looked like we had a goal in us, albeit there was never going to be a free-flowing on the surface.”

Westley was also pleased that his side finally seem to have worked out how to use the problematic pitch to their advantage.

“We’re determined to grind the points out,” he said.

“We know here it’s going to be a slog. We know it’s tough out there.

“One of the boys walked in and said ‘it must be the worst pitch in professional or amateur football’.

“It is very difficult and you’ve got to play a certain type of game but very good quality players in our dressing room played that certain type of game and they showed the grit and determination, the bite, the energy and the work ethic that we haven’t always shown.

“It was pleasing to see that and encouraging.”

County: Day; Pipe, Jones, Nelson, O'Brien, Butler; Randall (Owen-Evans, 66), Bennett, Sheehan; Reid (Bojaj, 75), Williams

Subs not used: Bittner, Barnum-Bobb, Demetriou, Flynn, Samuel

Referee: Michael Salisbury

Attendance: 2,397 (312 Colchester)