Graham Westley believes Newport County are making progress despite a 13th game without a win leaving them rooted at the bottom of League Two.

The Exiles claimed their first point since Westley took charge with Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Barnet at Rodney Parade.

Sean Rigg’s late penalty earned the draw after Ben Tozer’s first-half opener had given County the lead before John Akinde struck twice.

But Westley, whose side are still six points from safety, said: “We are pushing the right buttons and if we continue to do that it won’t be long before we start winning.

“It’s a point and a step in the right direction.

“When you go 2-1 down with five minutes left there is a chance you can lose the game, but the players showed character.

“Our early season form wasn’t showing that many chances, but we’re looking like a unit going forward.

“There’s a sense of purpose to us and anyone watching us would be excited by the play.”

“The whole process we’re going through is reducing the errors and improving our defensive organisation.

“I’m improving our work rate throughout and making sure we’ve got a pattern to our play and that we’re allowing the players to express themselves.”

County travel to Accrington Stanley on Saturday as they look to reduce their deficit at the foot of the table.

The 48-year-old added: “We need to start posting the points to move up the league but we’re not going to start panicking about the fact that we are where we are.

“We need to keep pushing the improvement buttons and if we keep improving we’ll start winning the three points and start climbing up the league.”