NEWPORT County AFC manager Warren Feeney revealed that he owes Medy Elito £100 after the midfielder earned the Exiles a point against Oxford United.

Elito cancelled out Jordan Bowery’s 13th-minute opener with a stunning strike to level the match within a minute.

It was the Congolese player’s first goal for County in his 41st appearance and he ran straight to Feeney after watching his rocket find the bottom corner.

“They responded very well tonight,” said the Exiles boss. “They’re disappointed with the goal [conceded] but the reaction is what you want.

“And that’s £100 I owe Medy now. That’s why he came running over to me!

“I said to him the first goal he scores I’ll give him £100 and we’ve got three games left now so hopefully he’ll get another three.”

The draw against promotion hopefuls Oxford halted a run of six straight defeats for Feeney’s men and he was pleased with the improved display.

“It’s a decent point I think with the run we’ve been on,” he said.

“I think it was important to try and stop the rot and we were very energetic and we applied ourselves well.

“I had a good feeling before the game.

“Northampton are champions but for me Oxford are right up beside them.

“I think they’re probably the best football team in the league.

“Games like this excites the players and it’s against the other teams that we’ve got to handle it right.

“But I’m delighted and I thought with a bit more luck we could have won it in the end.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t win it but on the other hand I’m not because I wanted to stop the rot and we got a point against a very good side in Oxford.”

He added: “It was a little bit of a mistake by Joe [Day] for the goal and he held his hands up but he’s probably pulled off one of the best saves I’ve seen this season [in the second half].

“I thought from back to front every single one of them put a shift in for me tonight and I’m delighted.

“It’s a gimme working hard in football but it’s a big point for us.

“It gets us off 41 points, which I’ve been moaning at for a while.

“I don’t like to worry about other teams. We’ve got to worry about ourselves and if we apply ourselves like we did tonight we’ve got no problems whatsoever of staying in this league.”

York City’s shock 3-1 win over Portsmouth means County are not yet safe but they are nine points above the Minstermen with just nine points to play for and they have a goal difference advantage of -19 compare to -30.

“I want to get over that line mathematically,” said Feeney. “It’s a fantastic result for York tonight and until it’s all done I’ll be focusing on the job we’ve got to do and looking to Luton now on Saturday.

“The remit was stay up at all costs and I don’t care how we do it.

“We just want to stay in this league and we can build from there.

“I don’t look at budgets. If you get the right players in I want to be competitive and what we’ll lack in quality we’ll make up for in togetherness and characters.

“I look at Leicester as a benchmark – a team of some Championship players playing 4-4-2 with a great work ethic and team spirit and they’re flying in the Premier League.

“That’s the benchmark and when you go out on that pitch it’s 11 against 11.

“I don’t care who you play against, you apply yourself right, work hard and you’ll go a long way.”