THIS time last year Ain’t No Stoppin Us Now was the anthem that inspired Newport County AFC to achieve the impossible.

If manager Michael Flynn is allowed anywhere near the sound system in the dressing room he may well insist on Don’t Stop Believing taking its place 12 months on.

His side have been on a fantastic journey from the Great Escape to play-off contenders and he’s not ready to give up hope on the top seven just yet.

At present County look like they have left themselves too much to do to reach their goal but that’s what we all thought this time last year.

Saturday’s stalemate at Port Vale saw the Exiles match their 2016-2017 points total and they look like securing a comfortable mid-table finish this time round.

Anything more than that will require a dramatic upturn in form and a rediscovering of that ruthless streak up front.

South Wales Argus:

Successive clean sheets show that Mark O’Brien’s return in a three-man central defence alongside the excellent Mickey Demetriou (above) and Ben White has solved one problem.

But a fruitless February in front of goal means Flynn’s men need to march forward with much more potency next month.

After last week’s drab affair against Notts County, they did at least look like scoring at Vale Park and they really should have beaten a poor Port Vale side.

O’Brien and substitute Shawn McCoulsky both missed glorious opportunities to end the goal drought, which has now lasted for more than 500 minutes.

Ben Tozer’s long throws caused havoc all afternoon and Frank Nouble was denied by a fine save from Ryan Boot, while Padraig Amond went close on several occasions.

It was a missed opportunity to close the gap on those above them and get back in the play-off mix but County fans can at least be thankful that they won’t be looking over their shoulders and fearing the drop this season.

That cannot be said of the Valiants, who could well be heading for back-to-back relegations from League One to the National League.

“I am not here to make excuses, it was a poor game quality-wise,” admitted their manager Neil Aspin, whose side have not won in 2018.

“We didn’t do enough in terms of quality and making chances to open up Newport in the last third.

“We were always vulnerable from their long throws, they fashioned most of their chances from them.

“You are disappointed you have not got the three points, which we desperately need but then you think we could have got no points.

“We will have to take the point,” he added.

“It’s not good enough at the end of the day, we have to be doing better than that.

“But if anybody expected to turn up and see a fast-flowing performance against a team that has done really well this season in Newport… it was always going to be a tight game and you are hoping to get a break. But it could have gone against us as well.”

After finishing 90th out of 92 for the last two seasons, the Exiles are glad not to have such worries this year and the manager and players are still optimistic that they can end the season on a high.

They won’t stop believing and they will hold on to that feeling for as long as possible. For this side the journey is not over yet.

County: Day; White, O’Brien, Demetriou; Pipe, Dolan, Tozer, Butler; Willmott; Nouble (Hayes, 76), Amond (McCoulsky, 76)

Subs not used: Bittner, Reid, Osadebe, Sheehan, Jackson

Booked: Butler

Referee: Tom Nield

Attendance: 4,013 (288 County)