Newtown 1 Haverfordwest County 1

AARON Williams held his nerve to rescue a point and deny relegation threatened Haverfordwest County victory at Latham Park.

The Robins struggled to find the form which has saw them rise to second in the JD Cymru Premier table in an unconvincing first-half display which had been impacted by the loss of playmaker Lufumpa Mwandwe to injury early on.

By then the Robins already trailed as Danny Williams breached the home defence featuring debutant Ryan Sears though shorn of captain Craig Williams and stalwart Kieran Mills-Evans to latch onto Jack Wilson's ninth minute throughball and slot home.

Newtown sought a response and almost levelled when Callum Roberts swung over a left wing cross for the unmarked Nick Rushton whose looping header was tipped around the post by goalkeeper Lee Idzi.

The Robins enjoyed sustained spells of possession throughout the first-half which saw both sides forced to make changes due to injury.

Mwandwe was replaced by James Davies after pulling up injured while the visitors were forced to replace Kyle Patten with Ben Fawcett.

Newtown continued to toil but the County defence soaked up the pressure as the Robins trailed at the break.

Fawcett's low right wing cross just evaded substitute Toray Sisay as County threatened at the start of the second-half.

Newtown were indebted to goalkeeper Dave Jones for keeping them in the game when he bore down on Sisay who had raced onto a long ball from Elliot Scotcher only to be denied by a form save from the home No1.

Newtown also threatened with Davies and Aaron Williams combining on the edge of the area to feed Rushton on the right who showed good skill to create room before forcing Idzi into another wonderful save.

Rushton was at the heart of the action as Newtown clawed their way back into the game on 73 minutes when he was clumsily clattered into by Ryan George on the edge of the area.

Williams slotted home the resulting penalty as the Robins faithful celebrated getting back in the game.

Newtown could have snatched victory late on when Jake Walker charged down a poor clearance and scampered through to release Davies only for the ex-Cefn Druids forward to produce a weak shot as Idzi saved County a point.

NEWTOWN: Jones, Taylor, Roberts, Sears, Mwandwe (Davies 29'), Rushton, Evans (Edwards 89'), A Williams, Cowans, Hughes, Walker. Subs: M Williams, Downs, Hesden, Arsan, Guest.

HAVERFORDWEST: Idzi, Richards, Scotcher, Wilson, D Rees, K Rees, Lewis (Sisay 60'), George, Patten (Fawcett 19'), Williams, Davies. SubsL Gajda, Le-Grice, Jones, Jones-Thomas, Humphreys.