Rot stops ahead of Westley’s entrance

CARETAKER manager Sean McCarthy is confident Newport County’s well-earned draw at Colchester United will prove to be a turning point for their season.

McCarthy, along with fellow caretaker boss James Bittner, took charge of the Exiles prior to Graham Westley officially taking the reins.

Westley was watching from the stands as Newport picked up their first away point since August.

And although they remain bottom of League Two, McCarthy believes it could be a significant result for them.

McCarthy said: “They’ve never been a bad group or bad players.

“It’s just that we haven’t had the luck in games and every mistake that we’ve made in games, we’ve been punished for, whether it’s the last minute or in injurytime.

“I’ve kept saying to them that their luck will change and hopefully, this is the start of that and we got a point.

“It’s a stepping stone and it was a good way for me to go out.

“We’d have liked to have got three points but a clean sheet never loses you games and it was a good gritty performance.

“I’m sure the supporters who came up will have enjoyed it.”

Colchester, who are without a win in five league matches, failed to score at home for the first time this season and head coach John McGreal admitted they were not creative enough in attack.

McGreal said: “The decisions we made in the top third were poor by our attackers.

“Newport had their new manager watching from the stands and we knew it was going to be tough.

“In the first half, we didn’t move the ball quickly enough into pocket areas and in the second half, we were a bit static and ran in straight lines.

“The clean sheet is a positive and we looked really solid, so that’s the most pleasing thing.

“It’s a building process – that’s what we’re here to try and do. “I thought we looked defensively sound but we’re disappointed we didn’t create more chances.”

Colchester’s best effort came on the half hour when the impressive Drey Wright saw his rasping 25-yard strike skim the crossbar and the winger was also denied by Newport keeper Joe Day.

But the visitors also had their opportunities, with U’s keeper Sam Walker pushing over Jon Parkin’s first-half effort and Darren Jones and Marlon Jackson both squandering headers late on.