At least Banbury began the second half with a little more purpose and they did actually string a few decent passes together. However there was to be no breakthrough and as the half wore on the play deterioated and the game looked to be heading for a goalless draw.

However the game came to life in the last ten minutes. In the 80th minute Banbury's John Mbamarah had a good effort from the edge of the box which the keeper did well to tip over the bar. A minute later Jason Taylor had a clear chance to score but with just the keeper to beat he screwed his shot just wide. A further minute later Marvin Martin had an excellent run down the left flank, beat a couple of players and then he crossed to where Connor Hayes had an excellent chance to score from 5 yards but the keeper managed to block his effort.

Banbury were to rue not taking any of these chances in their best spell of the game as with just three minutes left Joe Murrell made a decent blocking save but the rebound fell to a Newport player who duly stroked the ball into the net to give the home side a 1-0 win.

United manager Billy Jeffrey will be looking for an improvement on this showing over the final four pre-season games beginning with the visit of Conference South side Eastleigh to the Spencer Stadium this coming Saturday.

Banbury United Line Up: Joe Murell, Adam Howarth, Marvin Martin, Delroy Gordon, Adam Learoyd, Nathan Haisley, Joe Coleman Declan Benjamin, Scott Cross, Jason Taylor, Ross Oulton. Subs (all used): John Mbamarah, Connor Hayes, Ollie Stanbridge, Kameron Abbassi, David Staff, Rob Foster.