County were sunk by a touch of class - and it was provided by a former on-loan player they wanted to buy!

There was very little between the two Dr Martens League, Premier Division sides in last night's clash at the Wessex Stadium, and a point apiece wouldn't have caused a great deal of argument.

But Lee Phillips, who had a spell at Spytty Park two seasons ago, was having none of that. He took a long, raking pass from John Waldock and in one sweet movement controlled the ball before drilling it wide of a helpless Pat Mountain in the County goal for a 64th-minute winner.

County manager Peter Nicholas said: "It was a good goal but I thought it was sloppy defending, although he took it well."

Three minutes from the end Phillips almost added a second. He broke free with County throwing caution to the wind in search of a deserved equaliser, but was beautifully foiled by Mountain.

Nicholas said: "I was not disappointed with our display - but I was with the result. We started off a bit 'iffy' but once we had equalised, I didn't want the half to end. I thought we did enough to get a draw."

But had County taken their chances there would not have been the need for such a frantic finish. They had the better chances and big spenders Weymouth, now with much-travelled striker Steve Claridge at the helm, owed their survival to goalkeeper Jason Matthews who made the best save of the match four minutes after the game produced two goals in the space of 30 seconds.

The flying Matthews kept out Garry Shephard's splendidly-placed header from Nathan Davies' pin-point right cross. It was a breathtaking save as the action mounted after a very mediocre start by both sides, well below Premier Division standards.

Nicholas declared: "It was a world-class save." Perhaps gilding the lily somewhat, but it still paints a pretty good picture.

Two minutes earlier Shephard tried to beat Matt-hews with a monstrously audacious lobbed shot with Matthews off his line. It was a 35-yard attempt which went wide but was well worth a try.

County fell behind in the 24th-minute when Ian Hutchinson placed a left-footed free-kick over a defensive wall - but a defender guarding a post could have worked wonders.

But there was no time for recrimination. County bounced back with precision timing, Neil Davis' header, from a deep cross by defender Gary Lloyd, looping over the stranded Matthews.

Weymouth (4-4-2): Matthews; Tully, Kenway, Waldock, Russell; Partridge (Lamb, 46 minutes), Buckle, Barlow, Hutchinson (Gill, 81); Phillips, Claridge. Substitutes (not used): Browne, Robinson, Gadsby. Bookings: Gill (89 min., foul).

Newport County (5-3-2): Mountain; Williams, Eckhardt (Dickeson, 74), Evans, Thomas, Lloyd; Rose, Phillips, Davies (Palmer, 77); Shephard, Davis. Substitutes (not used): Stone, Rogers, Wesson. Bookings: Davies, 58, foul; Phillips, 72, foul).

Referee: Paul Norman (Bradford Abbas)

Attendance: 1,453