NEWPORT head coach Sven Cronk hopes his side’s 11-10 victory over Aberavon in the Swalec Cup goes a long way to restoring self-belief after a difficult few months.

The Black and Ambers boss and his men confounded their critics by overcoming the Wizards on Sunday in an enthralling encounter at Rodney Parade.

As well as giving the two-times winners the prospect of a decent cup run, it was a much-needed win for a side who find themselves at the bottom of the 12-team Principality Premiership.

It also halted a four-match losing streak, although three of those had seen them pick up losing bonus points in the league.

Newport certainly showed plenty of fighting spirit to defeat Aberavon in a clash that made up in excitement what it lacked in quality, a match punctuated by the shrill whistle of referee Rhys Thomas in officiating the jungle that was the contact area.

Newport had trailed 10-8 at the interval after try and penalty by Geraint O’Driscoll was cancelled out by a try from Wizards skipper and lock Sam Williams and a conversion and penalty through their outside half Cameron Clement, who crucially, as it turned out, missed a shot at goal in front of the posts in the opening minutes.

The Black and Ambers were the better side, but the only score of the second half was when full back O’Driscoll kept his nerve to slot over a late penalty after the visitors were reduced to 13 men after the sending off of replacement back rower Chris Davies for a high tackle and a yellow card handed out to centre David Richard-Evans for killing the ball at the contact area.

The Wizards came close to winning the game at the death in a nail-biting climax, but the hosts held firm, to the relief of all at the great club.

“We certainly don’t make things easy on ourselves!” Cronk said. “It was nerve-jangling at the end, but we are so pleased we got the win.

“It was absolutely vital in terms of our self-belief and confidence. We are a good team and we played with a real intent against Aberavon.”

The former Newport and Pontypridd prop added: “The first 20 minutes, we played well with plenty of tempo and width but then seemed to clam up for the rest of the first half – I suppose that’s a reflection of where we are at the moment, short on confidence.

“We need to show a bit more composure and go through the phases – we need to cut down on our errors too.

“There were examples of that against Aberavon when we would start to build a little momentum before being turned over in the contact area or make a lineout mistake.

“It was crucial to get the victory with a tough block of fixtures to come with Carmarthen Quins at home next.

“It will put a smile on our faces in training as well this week as well, which makes a nice change.”