Barry Town Utd 0 Newtown 1

IAN Sheridan struck the only goal of the game as Newtown revived their top six challenge at Barry Town United.

The Robins hit the ground running at Jenner Park with midfielder Alex Fletcher testing home goalkeeper George Ratcliffe early on before Sean McAllister's volley was smothered by the home custodian.

Barry's muted display continued with the South Wales side failing to test a well drilled Robins defence.

Meanwhile Newtown pressed with Joe Kenton lashing just wide from distance before the first-half petered out and ended goalless at the break.

It was a similar story after the break with Sheridan firing wide early on as Newtown set the tone.

Barry looked to inject some invention into their side with the introduction of Mo Touray and Jordan Cotterill on the hour while Newtown threw Niall Flint into the mix to replace veteran Matty Williams.

Nick Rushton fired over with 20 minutes remaining as Newtown continued to ask questions while Barry struggled to get into the game.

The pressure finally told with eight minutes remaining with Jake Kelly's free-kick picking out Sheridan who slotted past Ratcliffe to break the deadlock.

Barry laid siege but it was too late to prevent Newtown celebrating a richly deserved three points to revive their bid to to break into the top six before the mid-season split next month.

The sides meet again at Jenner Park on Saturday in the third round JD Welsh Cup.

NEWTOWN: D Jones, McAllister, Mills-Evans, Mitchell, Rushton (Barnes 90), Sheridan, Kenton, Williams (Flint 68), Mwandwe (Thorn 81), Fletcher, Kelly. Subs: Lewis, Steventon.