Newport Pagnell keep the pace up at the top of the league

The Swans are four points from the summit of UCL Premier Division with two games in hand over Yaxley and Holbeach above them, while opening the gap to Wisbech to two points.With so much riding on the game, Newport started brightly and when Fazel Koriya broke through one-on-one with the home keeper, there was only going to be one result.

Newport doubled their advantage when Koriya broke free again, this time feeding Michael Lyon to fire in from 20 yards.

Expecting a fightback in the second half from the home side, Swans made sure of the result soon after the restart when Tom Liversedge headed home from close range. The striker would see red before the final whistle though, meaning Newport had to survive the final half an hour, but Wisbech couldn't break through the stout defence until stoppage time when Michael Frew got a consolation.

"Everyone was saying it was a six-pointer and rightly so," said Lynch afterwards. "They are a very decent side and I knew that for us to get our first win there since they rejoined the UCL would take a massive effort from all of us.

"With half an hour to go, they had a lifeline when Liversedge was sent off for a dubious decision but the 10 other lads were superb and we saw the game out apart from the one blip where they scored in injury time.

"We go onto Rothwell on Tuesday which is just as big a game."

Newport travel to Rothwell Corinthians, who sit 14th in the table, on Tuesday night to play one of their games in hand.