HOW do you follow the Great Escape? Steve McQueen never got around to making a sequel but Newport County AFC gave it a good go on the opening day of the League Two season.

Shawn McCoulsky’s stoppage-time strike to complete a superb fightback from 3-1 down to 3-3 won’t go down in the club’s folklore like Mark O’Brien’s dramatic late winner in May.

But the 464 travelling fans at the Lamex Stadium will remember it fondly and it again sent out the message to the rest of the division that this Exiles side will never give up the fight.

It was a fabulous finale that keeps the feel-good factor going and manager Michael Flynn praised his side’s character but he was convinced they should have won the match.

“They’re trying to give me a heart attack I think,” joked the Exiles boss.

“After the late drama at the end of last season it was the same again, not with the same consequences but I’m sure they do it on purpose at times.

“They’re a good group, they’ve got that togetherness and I’m very proud of them coming back to get a point.

“We kept fighting so there are a lot of positives to take from the game but I didn’t really enjoy it because we conceded three and we shouldn’t have. That’s the disappointing thing.”

Flynn’s men would indeed have taken all three points were it not for two uncharacteristic mistakes from Scot Bennett.

The former captain sold goalkeeper Joe Day short with a poor back pass to allow Tom Pett to open the scoring in the 11th minute.

And he conceded a penalty with a crude challenge on Luke Wilkinson just when County looked to be in the ascendency following Frank Nouble had levelled 10 minutes after the break.

Dale Gorman scored from the spot just after the hour and Danny Newton’s third on 72 minutes looked to have sealed victory for the hosts.

But a spectacular Mickey Demetriou effort five minutes later and super sub McCoulsky’s big moment in the fourth minute of time added on meant the points were shared.

Flynn was pleased that Nouble got off the mark after a glaring miss in the first half.

“I told him to keep going and keep believing and he’d get another chance,” he said.

“You’re going to miss chances but as long as you’re in positions to get on the end of them then I can handle that.

“Then Mickey Demetriou scored an absolute thunderbolt and McCoulsky did what I put him on the pitch to do.

“He’s raw, he’s a kid, but he scores goals. He was in the right spot at the right time.

“He’s a great kid, he worked hard and had some nice touches. He did some silly things too but he’ll learn.”

On Bennett bad day at the office, the manager said: “It was two individual errors and there’s not a lot to work on.

“Benno is a great lad. He’s worked hard and he’s looked very fit and strong this pre-season and he deserved to start.

“I’m not going to overreact. It’s one game and he’s made a couple of errors but he’s someone I’ve got a lot of time for on and off the pitch and I know he won’t let me down.”

With Tuesday’s trip to Southend United in the Carabao Cup followed by League matches at Crewe Alexandra and Coventry City it doesn’t get any easier for County but once again they’ve shown they are up for the battles ahead.

“It’s a very tough start but the boys have shown great character,” said Flynn.

“We’ll do that from now until the end of the season.

“We’ll lose games, we’ll draw games and we’ll win games but as long as they keep showing the right attitude and commitment we’ll win a lot more than we lose.”

County: Day; Butler (Jahraldo-Martin, 90), Demetriou, Bennett (McCoulsky, 68), O’Brien, Willmott; Labadie (Owen-Evans, 78), Dolan, Rigg; Reynolds, Nouble

Subs not used: Bittner, Pipe, White, Williams

Referee: Martin Coy

Attendance: 2,650 (464 County)