GOAL hero Scot Bennett says Newport County AFC have ‘put down a marker’ by climbing to second in the League Two table and they’re determined to stay in the automatic promotion places.

Bennett and fellow defender Dan Butler were both on the scoresheet as County held on for three points at Port Vale on Saturday.

A fourth win in six games means only Lincoln City are above Michael Flynn’s at this early stage of the campaign.

And, while he accepts that there is a long way to go, Bennett is convinced that the Exiles can continue to upset the odds this season and challenge for a place in League One.

“We dug deep and stuck together like we needed to and it was a really good win,” said the 27-year-old, who scored for the first time in 11 months.

“It doesn’t happen very often for me or Dan but it’s nice when it does and I’m always happy to chip in and help get us three points.

“It takes us into second and that’s something we can build on,” he added. “Hopefully we can stay up that end of the table.

“It puts down a marker. It shows other teams that we’re there and we want to stay up there.

“They’ll be wanting to beat us and it’s down to us now to fight to stay where we are.”

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Few would have predicted that County would be second in the table after their 3-0 opening day defeat at Mansfield Town one month ago today and Bennett is proud of the character that the players have shown since then.

He added: “Who would have thought that at the start of the season?

“It’s always nice when you have a bad start, like we did at Mansfield, to turn it around.

“But we’re well aware that it is just the start. We’ve got to keep the wins coming and that’s something we’re up for.

“You’ve got to win all sorts of ways – by playing football, by digging deep, last-minute winners – and that’s something we’ve worked on and hopefully we can carry that on.”

Bennett believes County will need to show the same spirit they demonstrated at Vale Park when they travel to Oldham Athletic at the weekend.

“Port Vale is a horrible place to go and a lot of teams will struggle there so it’s a massive three points for us,” he said.

“The way we won shows how together we are as a squad. If one person makes a mistake we’re always there to dig them out [of the hole] and we need to keep that going.”

Match-winner Butler is also prepared for a battle at Oldham.

"It’s going to be a really tough ask," he told iFollow Exiles. "But if we go there with the same mindset as we had at Port Vale then I’m sure we’ll be alright.

"They came down from League One last season so I’m sure it’ll be a good game, I’ve played there before in my career and I can tell you that it won’t be an easy place to go. We’ve got to be prepared to work hard and battle if we want to get a result."