Tuesday 26 August 2014 11:36, UK
Justin Edinburgh was relieved to end Newport County's nightmare League Two start with a 1-1 draw against Burton Albion.
The Exiles picked themselves up to claim a point against high-flying Burton after they lost their opening three league matches. Chris Zebroski's header had put the hosts on the front foot but John Mousinho's second-half strike maintained the Brewers' unbeaten start to the new campaign. The Welsh side's first-half pressure told when the powerful striker rose highest to nod Ryan Jackson's long throw into the net via a deflection from Albion captain Ian Sharps. But Burton drew level on 57 minutes as Phil Edwards' cross found Mousinho in space and the midfielder lashed a low, left-footed shot past Lenny Pidgeley. Edinburgh said: "You wouldn't have thought they were the team who'd won four consecutive games and we'd lost four. "We couldn't quite get a clean sheet to collect the three points but credit to my players; they showed courage, the crowd got behind them and it was a good performance. "We had a really good pre-season but we didn't click after that and we had a really poor performance against Wycombe. "But we've overcome that and performances have got better as the season has gone on and results will come. "I thought we were very good in the first half; our play was excellent and we deserved the lead. "As time went on in the second half we lost our way a bit in the game but, all in all, we've given ourselves a foundation to build on. "We'd like to be playing Tuesday now but we've got a bit of a rest and ahead of a difficult game at Portsmouth." Burton Albion manager Gary Rowett said: "That's the third time in five games that we've had to come from behind and in the rest of those games we have gone on to win. "I've never questioned the character of this team and they kept going to get a response. "In truth, we should have nicked it towards the end because we had the best chance of the game. "Lucas Akins was a little bit elaborate with his finish after doing so well to get in a goal-scoring position. "We're going to have to play a lot better this season if we are going to challenge. "We played the ball backwards and square too many times. We weren't decisive enough on the ball. "When we play well, we go forward with quality, pace and tempo but we did the opposite today. "I'm disappointed that we've taken a point here at Newport when we could have got three in the end." Breaking news, transfer gossip, line ups and goal alerts from your football club - delivered direct to your mobile. Sign up for Sky Sports Alerts
