Christian Fuchs lauds Newport ‘character’ after dramatic draw at Crewe

Boss Christian Fuchs saluted his Newport players after they bounced back from FA Cup embarrassment by grabbing a stoppage-time leveller in a 2-2 draw at Crewe.

After being dumped out of the FA Cup by non-league Boreham Wood on Sunday, League Two’s basement club had their backs to the wall playing more than 30 minutes of the second half at the Mornflake Stadium with 10 men after Courtney Baker-Richardson’s dismissal.

But they showed plenty of spirit and Cameron Antwi fired home a late equaliser to cancel out Crewe substitute Josh March’s effort 12 minutes from time.

Emre Tezgel had nudged the Railwaymen ahead in the 11th minute but the Exiles were back on terms when Antwi’s effort flew in via a deflection from James Connolly soon after the break.

Fuchs, who made eight changes to his side, said: “The resilience and character shown by the players was more important than anything else.

“The players were honest about their performance against Boreham Wood. But talking is easy and they followed it up with action and didn’t give up until the very last second.

“After the meeting we’d had, I knew everyone would give everything and we are confident of turning around the season. The intensity the players showed helps them to believe particularly when they went down by one man and down by a goal.

“Courtney’s first yellow card was unfortunate but the second one you can see why it was given.

“But the players reacted to what we’d spoken about and created a lot of chances and I’m very happy for Cameron. Now we need to show the same bravery and we work towards getting a home win.”

Crewe boss Lee Bell cut a frustrated figure after they extended their winless league run to four matches.

He said: “It was very disappointing as it was a game we were expected to win. We started really well and we should have gone in 2-0 ahead, but we gave them something to cling to.

“I didn’t think Newport were a threat but we lacked composure controlling the game against 10 men. I felt we were rushed, we panicked and we have got to eradicate the type of goals we are conceding.

“We are struggling for numbers and have a young team, but we have got to be tougher to play against. We have to do better if our ambition is to get promoted. We should be in a better position than where we are.”