NEWPORT County AFC ended a run of eight successive defeats in League Two with a battling 1-1 draw against in-form Colchester United at Rodney Parade.

Josh Sheehan returned from injury to put the Exiles in front midway through the first half but the visitors levelled from the spot before the break.

It was a vital point for Graham Westley’s men at the bottom of the table with fellow strugglers Notts County also ending their 10-game losing streak with a draw and Cheltenham Town earning a rare win.

It leaves County six points from safety with a game in hand but a much-improved display earned a standing ovation at the final whistle.

Westley sprang a big surprise before kick-off by naming first team coach Michael Flynn amongst the substitutes.

The 36-year-old midfielder’s last appearance in a County shirt was the 1-0 home defeat to Oxford United in May 2015, when he was sent off in first-half stoppage-time.

The starting XI showed four changes from the defeat at Stevenage last week with Dan Butler, Darren Jones, Sheehan and Craig Reid coming in for Jennison Myrie-Williams, Jazzi Barnum-Bobb, Ben Tozer and Jaanai Gordon.

This week’s new arrivals Michael Demetriou, Florent Bojaj and Alex Samuel – numbers seven, eight and nine in January – were all on the bench alongside Flynn.

The changes in personnel also saw a change in formation to 5-3-2 with David Pipe charging up and down the flank as a right wing-back.

He was occasionally caught out of position at the back but his passion energised the Exiles and his determination almost created an opener early on.

The 33-year-old former captain charged down a clearance from Colchester’s Brennan Dickenson and the rebound almost fell perfectly for County but George Elokobi managed to clear the danger.

The deadlock was broken after 23 minutes as Sheehan squeezed a shot inside Sam Walker’s far post with the help of a deflection.

The hosts then enjoyed a good spell of pressure and could have doubled their lead had a deflection not taken the power off Aaron Williams’ effort.

But they were pegged back 10 minutes before the break when Kurtis Guthrie went over Jones’ trailing leg in the box and referee Michael Salisbury pointed to the spot.

U’s skipper Chris Porter hammered home the penalty to level but Westley’s men responded well before half-time.

Williams brilliantly controlled a high ball from Butler before testing Walker and Mark Randall shot just wide from the edge of the area.

Craig Slater, who could have seen red for a studs up challenge on Pipe in the first half, went close to a second for the visitors with a half volley driven just over the bar on 52 minutes.

And Sid Nelson came to the rescue with a cool clearance from under his own bar after Guthrie had skipped away from Jones.

At the other end Sheehan – who always looked the home side’s biggest threat – forced Walker into a fingertip save at full stretch.

And Reid, who also made a positive impact up front, tested the Colchester goalkeeper with two efforts on target before he was replaced by fellow new boy Bojaj.

They rarely looked like winning it at the death but the Exiles held on comfortably enough to finally move off 17 points at the bottom of the table and offer their fans hope for the coming weeks and months.

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)

Argus star man: Sheehan