NEWPORT County moved out of the Blue Square Bet Premier relegation zone with a nervy 1-0 win over basement boys Bath City last night.

It wasn’t pretty and it certainly wasn’t a Valentine’s Day massacre at Spytty Park but the three points are a major boost for County in the battle to beat the drop.

Lee Minshull’s solitary strike was enough to earn a first victory over bogey side Bath since October 2009.

The Exiles are up to 17th, their highest position since August, and still have games in hand over many of their rivals at the wrong end of the table.

Manager Justin Edinburgh made one enforced change from the 2-2 draw at Stockport County on Saturday.

Striker Elliott Buchanan returned to the starting line-up in place of Andy Sandell after the appeal against the midfielder’s red card at Edgeley Park was rejected.

Sandell will also miss the next two matches but for once Edinburgh is not short of options in midfield or up front.

The bench at Spytty Park last night was made up of Danny Potter and four attacking options in Darryl Knights, Jake Harris, Romone Rose and Jake Reid.

And with Buchanan, Sam Foley and Ryan Charles all starting it was a surprise that the only goal came from Minshull.

The midfielder, on loan from AFC Wimbledon, is known as the Tank and he blasted the ball past ex-County goalkeeper Glyn Garner in the Bath goal after 12 minutes.

That goal was against the run of play early on and the visitors were almost level 10 minutes later when Glyn Thompson saved well from Chris Shephard and then saw the follow-up go through his legs and trickle inches wide of his far post.

The Exiles back four struggled to cope with the Romans’ simple tactic of knocking the ball over the top for Shephard and Lee Phillips, another ex-County man, to chase.

Thompson had a shaky moment 10 minutes before the break as his hasty clearance deflected off Phillips and he was relieved to see it go out for a throw.

Bath remained on top until the break and certainly didn’t look like a side rooted to the bottom of the table.

County were slightly fortunate to be ahead at half-time but they improved markedly after the interval.

Buchanan nearly doubled the lead on 50 minutes when he hooked Adam Chapman’s corner just wide of Garner’s far post.

Captain Gary Warren went even closer on the hour as he toe-poked over the bar from all of two yards when it really would have been easier to score.

But while it remained 1-0 the nerves were frayed at Spytty, both in the stands and in the home defence.

Phillips went within a whisker of an equaliser but Thompson just about managed to deflect his goal-bound effort wide.

They survived that scare and hung on for a vital three points on a night that was significant for County on two fronts.

Edinburgh’s men also found out their next opponents in the FA Trophy as Northwich Victoria beat Hampton & Richmond Borough 4-1.

County will now travel to the Evo-Stik Northern Premier outfit for the quarter-final tie on Saturday, February 25.


County: Thompson, Baker, Hughes, Warren, Rodgers, Pipe, Minshull, Chapman (Harris, 85), Foley, Charles (Rose, 80), Buchanan (Reid, 68).

Subs not used: Potter, Knights.

Booked: Warren

Bath: Garner, Simpson, Stonehouse, Connolly, Phillips, Preece, Canham (Hogg, 58), Watkins, Burnell (Russell, 82), Gallinach, Shephard.

Subs not used: Rollo, Matthews, Egan.

Booked: Simpson, Burnell Referee: Steve Bratt (Walsall) Attendance: 1,130 ARGUS STAR MAN...

Sam Foley: On a night when nobody in an amber shirt was outstanding it was Foley who stood out due to his fantastic workrate. Ran himself in to the ground for the County cause.