NEWPORT County AFC manager Justin Edinburgh hailed a season’s best crowd at Rodney Parade for inspiring his side to fight back and claim a point against Exeter City.

The 4,070 fans, including a large contingent from Devon, saw a Sunday afternoon thriller as two goals in two minutes from Yan Klukowski and Max Porter earned a point for the Exiles, who had trailed 2-0 at the break.

And with tough away trips to Bury and Carlisle United to come in the next two weeks, Edinburgh was delighted by the character his side showed.

“The crowd was fantastic and they were well entertained,” said Edinburgh.

“They know again that every Newport player has given their best and worn that shirt with pride.

“And they supported us with pride as well,” he added. “They could have turned on us but they didn’t and they played a massive part in helping us turn the game round.

“We’ve had a tough month but we’ve shown some character and we’ve got to keep digging in and trying to stay around that pack at the top.”

County are now ninth in League Two, just three points off the play-off places after a spirited second half showing against the Grecians.

A penalty from Tom Nichols and a super strike from Graham Cummins put the visitors in charge but the Exiles roared back to level after 51 minutes following a dressing down in the dressing room.

“It’s not about myself, it’s about the players,” said Edinburgh.

“We spoke open and honestly in the dressing room at half-time.

“After the penalty we lost our composure and our shape and the manner we ended the first half was disappointing.

“We questioned one another at half-time and they certainly came up with the answers second half.

“Two goals in six minutes was more than we could have asked and then we had a real good spell for the next ten minutes where I thought we could have gone on to win the game.

“We ran out of steam and that’s no surprise but credit to my players because they’ve answered a lot of questions about themselves.

“It looked like we were going to see our good home run come to an end.

“We came up against a good team but we’ve proved we have the character and resilience and all of those kinds of things that may have been questioned about us.”