Newport RFC first team manager Gareth Davies lauded his team’s draw at Bromsgrove and proclaimed: “We think we’ve done enough.”
Newport picked up two points for their hard-fought 18-18 draw at promotion-chasing Bromsgrove last weekend.
Relegation rivals Malvern, meanwhile, recorded a shock win at Hereford to leave Newport hanging just three points above the relegation zone.
But Malvern have two tough games remaining against Hinckley and Luctonians, while Newport have just the one, a crunch clash against Hereford on Saturday week.
And Davies believes that his team have enough points in the bag to keep their place in National Three Midlands.
He said: “We think we’ve done enough. Malvern won at Hereford, which was a bit of a surprise, but we’re looking okay. All we can do is concentrate on ourselves.
“A win against Hereford will probably do it and that’s what we’ll be looking for. Until our place in this league is rubber-stamped, we have to keep fighting.”
Few gave Newport much chance of collecting anything from a difficult trip to third place Bromsgrove.
And the alarm bells were ringing when the home side charged into a 12-3 lead early on.
A second Tomasi Tanumi penalty reduced the deficit before half time, but it took an old-fashioned tongue-lashing at the interval to spur the visitors into life. Rob Clymer went over to bring Newport to within a point of their hosts.
Bromsgrove went further ahead again through two penalty kicks, but Omar Suleiman made it 18-18 with 10 minutes remaining after a sprint down the blind side.
Newport may even have nicked a win as they piled on the pressure late on.
But in the end Davies’ side were happy with their draw as they watched a last gasp Bromsgrove penalty sail the wrong side of the posts with the very last kick of the game.
Davies added: “It was a fantastic effort from the lads.
“Bromsgrove probably thought they were in for a comfortable win judging by the league positions, but in the end we could’ve sneaked it.
“James Curgenven went off after five minutes with a cut above his eye. If we’d had him on the 80 minutes I suspect we would’ve won.Everyone was elated at the end and we picked up two points, which is a bonus because we weren’t really expecting anything.”
Newport have the luxury of a free weekend before the make-or-break Hereford match on April 10.
That should give a chance for Newport’s battle-weary players to recover.
Curgenven is expected to be fit despite having stitches to his cut eye socket.
By Sean Wozencroft
