NEWPORT County boss John Sheridan was full of praise for his players after getting a good result in a game that might not have survived half time, had he not insisted it did.

The Exiles battled to a 2-2 draw at high flying Accrington, but the pitch was certainly a huge hindrance to both sides.

At times the contest was farcical, with Accrington boss John Coleman probably right that it should have been called off, but after battling through for 45 minutes, the Crown Ground spectators were rewarded with a much better second period, four goals and plenty of chances for both sides.

And Sheridan admits there were discussions at half time about calling the whole thing off.

“John Coleman was keener than I was to see the game called off, the referee pulled us in at half time, John wanted it off and I didn’t want to be travelling down to Accrington on a Tuesday night if I’m honest,” he said.

“I understand where he’s coming from, the pitch was bad, but it was a good entertaining game in the end, there were bad patches and our players coped well. It was the same for both sides and we’ve come out even so no one cares too much now.”

Sheridan wasn’t too down on his players, despite them twice failing to hold a lead after a first half where they literally and metaphorically battled the storm.

“I thought on a difficult pitch both teams tried to play, did the best they could and it was quite an entertaining game,” Sheridan said.

“We were playing a good team, one of the best footballing sides in the league and on good form, they are really hard to beat and where we are in the league, a lot of people would have thought it was a home banker.

“But we are improving, it’s a little disappointing after taking the lead twice with two great goals, but it’s a good point for us.

“The performance merited a point, we are unbeaten in five and confidence is building. The two goals we scored were quality goals.”

Sheridan has now come to the end of the run of fixtures he pinpointed as especially tough when he took charge.

“We had a hard start with the fixtures, I said the first seven games were hard, but full credit, the players have performed well for me and hopefully towards the end of the season, this will be a good point for us,” he explained.

“We want to gain as big an advantage at the bottom as we can, other teams are getting sucked into it and the game against Yeovil (next weekend) is big for us.

“But we are playing ok, I’m getting quality performances from the players now.”

The Exiles are concerned over defender Janoi Donacien, who was stretchered off with an ankle injury.

“Janoi looks a bad injury potentially, I can’t say really yet, he’ll need a scan, we don’t want it to be serious, but he could be out for a while,” Sheridan confirmed.