Press Association Sport Staff

Charlie McCann’s early strike proved enough to hand Cheltenham a 1-0 victory over Newport but they needed goalkeeper Wyll Stanway to pull off a fine penalty save to secure the points.

The goal came after just five minutes when excellent work down the right from Jake Evans saw him pull the ball back to McCann, who calmly steered his shot into the top left-hand corner of Jordan Wright’s goal.

Stanway did well to push a Kyle Cameron shot over the bar midway through the half before the home side went close to doubling their lead when McCann and Andreas Weimann combined before the latter planted a shot just the wrong side of a post.

Newport had the better of things late in the half and should have levelled when Ged Garner pounced on a loose pass but, with Stanway out of his goal, he blazed over the target.

The Exiles continued to dominate the chances at the start of the second half with Ciaran Brennan stabbing an effort wide before they were awarded a penalty for a foul on Harrison Biggins only for the same player to be denied from the spot by an excellent Stanway save.

Cheltenham endured late Newport pressure before securing their first clean sheet of the season.