NEWPORT County AFC midfielder Ben Tozer celebrated scoring the winner against his former club Swindon Town for the second time this season on Saturday and afterwards he paid tribute to the support shown by the fans, writes Josh Thomas.

Tozer started his career with the Robins and, after scoring the only goal of the game at the County Ground in November, he headed in the Exiles’ crucial second goal at Rodney Parade at the weekend.

That header added to Padraig Amond’s opener to secure three points against Phil Brown’s men, who pulled one back after the break before going down to 10 men.

County held on to claim a first home win since January 19 and Tozer was pleased to end their disappointing run.

“We’re happy finally we got a home win, it’s been a long time,” said the 28-year-old.

“It’s a great performance first half and it’s nice to score a goal.

“It’s always a great feeling to score but it’s a better feeling to win and it’s nice to get on the score sheet considering I don’t score that many.”

The 3,911-strong crowd saw their side move up to 12th place in the table and Tozer is glad of their support after a difficult few weeks for the team.

“They have supported us through thick and thin this season,” he said.

“The last however many games at home have had fantastic attendances and we haven’t been able to put the nail in the coffin a couple of games but we have now. It will be nice just to carry on and get a few wins.

“We are all disappointed [with recent results]. The cup run may or may not have affected us but you know next season is next season and we just got to focus on the rest of the season and play for a lot of pride and go again in the summer.”

South Wales Argus:

Tozer could have claimed a second goal in stoppage time when he hit the post from 50 yards after Swindon goalkeeper Stuart Moore came up for a corner.

And Amond, who claimed his 12th goal of the season with a superb first-half volley, was happy to poke fun at his teammate.

“Tozer was brilliant,” said the Irish striker.

“He scored a great header but he’s gutted inside that he hasn’t score a second.

“I think I was the only one that didn’t fancy him running because I ran the length of the pitch and took the rebound off the post.

“I don’t think we’ll let him forget that for a long, long time!

“He’s ran and ran and we’ve just been looking at the photos – he’s running away celebrating, it’s brilliant!”

Amond felt Saturday's performance was a real return to form for the Exiles but he admitted that they had to hang on after the break.

"In the first half I thought we were excellent and I thought it was probably up there with some of the best football we’ve played this season," he added.

"In the second half when you have a lead you don’t mean to sit back. The gaffer doesn’t tell us to sit back but when you’re on a run like we’ve been on it’s natural that you just want to see the game out.

"We just wanted to get a win. We didn’t want to just defend the lead but at the same time we don’t want to be too gung-ho.

"In the end I felt we held on really well and it was a nice feeling. You could feel the relief around the ground."