TWO-goal hero Lee Phillips, whose brace against third-placed Havant and Waterlooville last night fired the Exiles into fifth in the Dr Martens League table, is happy at Newport County.

But the 21-year-old, on loan for the rest of the season from cash-strapped Dr Martens rivals Weymouth, knows the final decision on where he will ply his trade next season is not up to him.

It is believed the South Coast side want around £50,000 for Phillips, who was now scored 19 league goals this term, and a handful of Football League and Conference clubs are interested in his progress.

That massive price tag will almost certainly put Newport off signing Phillips, who played for recently promoted Division Three side Plymouth Argyle before being released after suffering a broken leg. But Weymouth will want to cash in on Phillips in the summer.

He said: "I am happy at Newport. The players are a great bunch of lads and manager Tim Harris is excellent.

"Where I will play next season will be not up to me ultimately, but at the moment all I want to do is play football."

Last night's game was Phillips' second after a hamstring injury - and his goals were his second and third in County's colours but first and second at Newport Stadium - which attracted its lowest league crowd of the season last night, one fan less than at last week's 4-1 drubbing of Folkestone Invicta.

He ghosted into the box after 21 minutes and was unmarked to head Michael Fowler's left-wing cross past Havant 'keeper Paul Nicholls while Phillips' second on the hour was a fierce drive across Nicholls into the far corner of the net after good work in midfield by Allan Stevenson and Matt Rose.

It was County's sixth game unbeaten and means if they win at home against Chelmsford City on Saturday afternoon or Tiverton Town fail to get three points against title-chasing Kettering Town at Ladysmead, Newport will finish fifth - their highest pyramid placing since re-forming in 1989.

"Finishing fifth will be a notable achievement," said Harris. "But we did have high expectations at the start of the season and wanted promotion."

This season will be memorable for County's amazing Amber Army of fans as their team took Second Division Blackpool to a FA Cup first round replay, which was televised live on Sky, before being knocked-out.

They also were on TV when they lost 3-0 to Third Division Swansea City in the FAW Premier Cup. And a top five finish will make the campaign even more notable.

"But the most important thing about this campaign is that the FA Cup and FAW Premier Cup runs brought some much-needed revenue into the club which has helped stabilise the financial side of things," said Harris.

Last night's 2-0 win against the Hawks ensured County did the double over their Hampshire rivals. County played some excellent passing football and deserved their win. But it could have been more as Martin Paul spurned two glorious chances and Rose blazed a good opportunity over in the opening ten minutes.

County, and in particular ex-Trowbridge Town defender Robison, had 'keeper Pat Mountain to thank for still being a goal up at the break.

Robison gave the ball away to Gary Connolly who fed Havant striker James O'Rourke, but his chip shot from the right-wing rebounded off the bar. County's defence failed to clear and Neil Davis played the ball back into the box and it reached O'Rourke, but his shot from six yards was brilliantly blocked by the former Welsh under-21 stopper.

The man Mountain was again called upon to push Chris Ferrett's left-foot 20-yard piledriver round a post and he also did well to save a Dave Leworthy volley at point-blank range from Ferrett's right-wing corner.

Phillips could have netted his hat-trick with two minutes on the clock after Rose's ten-yard drive had been blocked by Nicholls, but the Havant 'keeper again pulled off a stunning save.

Newport County AFC (3-5-2): P Mountain; B Clark (J Eckhardt, 60), D Robison (c), A Thomas; S James (S Cowe, 71), M Rose, M Fowler, A Stevenson (D Ryan, 79), S Walker; L Phillips, M Paul Booking : M Rose 39 (foul)

Havant and Waterlooville (3-5-2) : P Nicholls; A Masson, N Champion, L Daish (Peter Wood, 62); G Connolly, N Davis, Paul Wood (S Black, 46), D Blake, C Ferrett; J O'Rourke, J Taylor (c) (D Leworthy, 46) Booking : N Champion 27 (kicking ball away), N Davis 49 (foul)

* Pictured: County's Martin Paul is on the ball as Laim Daish looks on