New signing Joe Westley made a dream impact in his first EFL appearance as he came off the bench to earn Swindon a massive 2-1 win at Newport County.

The first half was a mad rush of energy which saw plenty of attacking play but not a lot in the way of chances and Kyle Hudlin and Harry Smith took them when they arrived.

With both sides working as hard as they could to find a way through it was the man on loan from Burnley who popped up to snatch the win.

Town’s wait for consecutive victories is finally at an end after 287 days and also earned Ian Holloway his first away win as Swindon manager.

Ian Holloway decided that consistency would be the best policy to try and secure his first away win as Swindon manager. He named an unchanged line-up from the team which won maximum points over Barrow AFC and the injury to Billy Kirkman made room for new signing Joe Westley on the bench.

Swindon have become a more controlled side in the last few weeks but Newport remain a far more frenetic team and it was that style which took hold of the opening minutes. Swindon came forward and then as soon as they lost it Newport sprinted up the other end of the pitch. Not a lot of it was resulting in shots on goal but it carried plenty of menace.

That was always going to be a recipe for action and that took 12 minutes to arrive. David Ajiboye received the ball just inside the Swindon half, rolled, and drove to the edge of the area. His low drive was parried by Jack Bycroft, but Hudlin was the quickest to react and bundled it over the line.

The Friday night energy was never going to dampen in this game and Swindon did not have time for crying in the club. Ollie Clarke snapped into a tackle in the Newport half and the ball popped up for Smith. He spun and slammed the ball from 25 yards out and it flew beyond the sprawling Nick Townsend.

Like they were all on energy drinks, Newport were relentless in chasing around so even if Swindon wanted to slow the game down there was no opportunity to do so. The front three of Hudlin, Ajiboye, and Bobby Kamwa gave Swindon no time deep and the footballing chaos just kept coming.

A four-match losing run hadn’t taken any of the willing out of Nelson Jardim’s team and they had Swindon rattled increasingly as the half went on. Town were standing strong in the middle and few shots were reaching Bycroft but attacks going the other way were becoming a rare sight.

In an attempt to find more time at the back, as they had done last weekend, Swindon moved Ofoborh into the back three.

This only served to help Newport and they were thumping their first against the door as the half drew to a close, Kamwa was getting a lot of the ball on the left but proved to be wasteful with his crossing.

The break gave Holloway a chance to recalibrate his side’s pressing and this brought quick results as they won the ball back high up the pitch. Clarke’s cross after Aaron Drinan had won the ball back gave Smith the chance to head wide.

They kept coming and after a defender chose to send a free kick behind rather than let Drinan get a touch, Nnamdi Ofoborh fired low from the resulting corner and forced Townsend to get down well.

Swindon were now the ones driving the car but they were experiencing the same problem as Newport had in the first half. Both defences had been able to crowd the middle and not much was coming from out wide.

The tension was building as both sides ran their hearts out without much ingenuity in the final third for what would happen when the one chance did arrive.

The answer came in the 75th minute when Drinan got himself in down the side and cut it back to find Westley as he pulled away from his marker. He dispatched his finish into the bottom to realise the impact he would have been hoping to make.

The nature of the game meant that even after taking the lead, Swindon were still getting chances to make it safe. Joel Cotterill set the ball back for George Cox to cross and he found Smith, only for him to send it over the top.

But as the fight for survival continues, a win was all that mattered, especially one which broke as many unwanted records as this one. Rodney Parade has been a miserable hunting ground for Swindon but in their metamorphosis into a real League Two team, they finally did it on a cold night in Newport.

NCFC starting XI: Townsend, Baker, Clarke, Kamwa, Whitmore, K. Evans, McLoughlin, Hudlin, C. Evans, Davies, Ajiboye.

NCFC substitutes: Webb, Martin, Baker-Richardson, Greaves, Antwi, Thomas, Spellman.

STFC starting XI: Bycroft, Sobowale, Delaney, Wright, Ofoborh, Clarke, Smith, Nichols, Kilkenny, Drinan, Cox.

STFC substitutes: Barden, Cotterill, Glatzel, Cain, Tshimanga, Butterworth, Westley.

Attendance: 5,244 (1,055 away).