SEAN Rigg headed in with eight minutes left on the clock to earn Newport County AFC a first point of the season at home and a deserved share of the spoils against Crewe Alexandra.

Mansfield Town and MK Dons have already won at Rodney Parade this season and Crewe looked like taking all three points on a wet and miserable August afternoon.

But after two encouraging performances on the road at Leyton Orient and Luton Town produced three points that really should have been four this was another step in the right direction for County.

After a poor first half when they were second best the hosts battled back in horrible conditions to send their fans home happy thanks to a spirited second half showing.

Alex Kiwomya, on loan from Chelsea, had produced a moment of Premier League quality after 16 minutes to open the scoring for Crewe.

The left winger cut in from the touchline after Jordan Green had lost possession and curled an unstoppable effort into the far top corner of Joe Day’s net.

It will have given Day and the home fans a sense of déjà vu as it was very similar to Kevan Hurst’s winner for Mansfield at Rodney Parade two week ago.

And it forced Feeney into action.

The manager had named an unchanged starting XI for the second match running but he’d well and truly shaken things up by the midway point in the first half.

Young winger Green, on loan from AFC Bournemouth, didn’t look to be injured as he was unceremoniously hooked after 19 minutes.

And the Exiles boss made it two changes on 23 minutes as Jamie Turley was also withdrawn after taking a knock in the Crewe penalty area.

On came Jazzi Barnum-Bobb and Jon Parkin as Feeney switched from 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 formation with Sean Rigg and Marlon Jackson playing off Parkin.

The Beast made himself at home as the focal point of the attack and produced a perfect knock-down for Joss Labadie to poke home but the flag was up for offside.

Other than that moment the hosts’ main threat came from set-pieces and Mark Randall came closest to levelling with a superb free-kick.

The midfielder’s shot was rocketing towards the bottom corner but Ben Garratt got down brilliantly to his left to palm the ball away to safety.

In truth the visitors looked fairly comfortable and could easily have extended their lead before the break.

A George Cooper free-kick from the right was almost converted at the back post by John Guthrie but Darren Jones did just enough to quell the danger.

Day had to be alert to prevent Ryan Lowe from adding a second and his strike partner Chris Dagnall saw his shot from the rebound deflected behind.

And two minutes before the interval Kiwomya was in the thick of the action once again, firing wide from close range under pressure from Labadie after good work from Zoumana Bakayogo and Lowe.

The visitors began the second half on the front foot as well with James Jones seeing a shot cleared off the line by Dan Butler and Lowe firing straight at Day.

But County began to exert some pressure around the hour mark as the rain continued to lash down.

A combination of Parkin and Sean Rigg forced a Crewe defender to head onto his own bar.

Then Randall’s free-kick was blocked by the wall with County convinced that it hit a hand but the referee was not interested and Jackson’s effort from the rebound was deflected over the top.

Parkin went close with a clever flick from a Randall corner that forced Garratt into an acrobatic save from close range.

And the equalizer finally came in the 82nd minute as Rigg expertly guided in Barnum-Bobb’s cross with a deft header to beat Garratt.

The delighted home fans sang “Sean Rigg’s on fire” and they were nearly celebrating a winner on 88 minutes as Jackson headed wide from Rigg’s cross.

But a point was just reward and a fair result in the end.

County: Day; Butler, Jones, Bennett, Turley (Parkin, 23); Myrie-Williams, Labadie (Tozer, 72), Randall, Green (Barnum-Bobb, 19); Rigg, Jackson

Subs not used: Bittner, Bignot, Owen-Evans, Sheehan

Booked: Labadie, Jones

Referee: John Brooks

Attendance: 2,268 (284 Crewe)

Argus star man: Parkin