NEWPORT County AFC manager Graham Westley believes the battling 1-1 draw with promotion-chasing Colchester United could be a turning point in the fight against relegation.

County remain bottom of League Two and are now six points from safety after Cheltenham Town’s win over Accrington Stanley.

But they have halted a run of eight straight defeats and moved off 17 points – where they have been stuck since November 19.

And Westley is positive about what the display signals for the Exiles hopes of beating the drop.

“It was a turning point for us,” he said.

“It was important to stop that rot and it’s not easy to do it because momentum one way or the other – winning or losing – finds its way in.

“Credit to the team; I thought they were excellent at doing the things you have to do on that pitch to try to win football matches.

“Defensively we were dogged, we were resilient, we won our headers and our tackles and we went into the right areas going forward.

“We created enough moments probably to have won the game – good chances to win the football match.

“And we didn’t really concede chances at the other end.”

Josh Sheehan’s deflected shot gave County the lead on 23 minutes but Colchester levelled 12 minutes later when Chris Porter scored from the spot after Darren Jones was adjudged to have brought down Kurtis Guthrie in the box.

“It was a disappointing penalty to concede to give up the lead,” said Westley.

“For me it wasn’t clear-cut but I didn’t have a good view of it.

“I’d need to look at it again.

“I didn’t expect him to point to the spot and I was disappointed when he did.”