IF it proves to be the strike that keeps Newport County AFC in the Football League it will be priceless but Medy Elito was delighted to claim £100 from manager Warren Feeney after hitting his first goal for the club.

The 20-yard stunner, only a minute after Jordan Bowery had given the visitors the lead, earned a draw against promotion-chasing Oxford United on Tuesday night and took the Exiles to the brink of safety.

And Elito spoke of his delight to have finally put his name on the scoresheet for County in his 41st appearance.

“It’s nice, all my teammates have scored,” said the 26-year-old.

“My midfield partner Byrner [Mark Byrne] has got a few goals so it’s good to score, and against good opposition too.

“I’ve got a taste for it now. The gaffer kept telling me before the game, and in training, to keep shooting, and I get told my Flynny [coach Mike Flynn] all the time too.

“And when I had the opportunity I just let loose and it went in the back of the net.”

The Congolese midfielder also revealed he had a bet with the manager that if he scored before the end of the season it would earn him a £100 bonus.

“We had a bet. It’s coming to the end of the season and he said if I score a goal, he’d give me £100 and luckily I scored,” Elito explained.

“He hasn’t paid me yet. He’s just said he is going to bring it in Thursday.

“I want to score every week and I’ll try shooting all the time now!”

Elito praised the fans at Rodney Parade for inspiring a much-improved performance from the whole team.

“We’ve been on a poor run – six games without a draw or a win – and it was difficult but we knew what we had to do against a top team,” he said.

“We knew it was going to be tough but we stuck together and got a good point.

“The football season is full of ups and downs but we put in a good shift and it was a great team performance.

“The fans needed something like that and that performance hopefully lifted everyone,” he added.

“The fans are the 12th man and when we’re down we need them behind us and when we’re up we need them behind us.

“It was rocking and you could see what a difference it made to the players. Everyone was happy.”

The point leaves County nine points above York City with nine points to play for ahead of Saturday’s trip to Luton Town.

“We know we haven’t done it yet,” said Elito. “We want to win the next three games to finish it off.

“I thought as the game went on we could have won it and hopefully we can take that into Saturday now.”