SLOWLY but surely the Peter Nicholas revolution is starting to take shape at Newport County.

Any Exiles fan worth his or her salt will know that it will take more than two weeks or five games to get the team playing the brand of football that has Nicholas stamped over it.

But there were glimpses of it in Saturday's 1-1 draw.

Little intricate passes and movement, pretty to watch patterns of play and the new fashionable five across the midfield with a flat-back-four formation. This is Newport County Peter Nicholas style.

Mark Hughes adopted this exact approach to the Welsh national team when he took over from Bobby Gould three years ago but it's only now beginning to bear fruit.

Hughes' old pal Nicholas is also of the new breed of football manager and he too will need time to mould Newport into his own side.

That may include adding a few new faces, the type of players that Nicholas believes will get County into the Nationwide Conference.

That is the long-term goal of the new Newport Stadium boss who replaced Tim Harris.

But, for now, he'll be more than happy that the Exiles will be in the hat when the FA Trophy third round draw is made at Anfield later today.

Nicholas' arrival may have opened a new chapter in the Newport County AFC history books, but it was a familiar face who was the toast of the town on Saturday night.

Garry Shephard, with two minutes remaining, stooped to head past Epsom and Ewell and put County into the next round where the Conference sides enter.

Shephard's seventh goal of the season, from Allan Stevenson's left-wing cross, was the second home game in succession that he has scored within the last ten minutes.

County did miss the tenacious tackling and hard-work of Nathan Davies in the centre of midfield but, nevertheless, they edge into the next round and bank £1,000 worth of prize-money as they go.

In a clean game without any bookings, County took control from the start. And Nicholas must have been scratching his head when his County side squandered their first-half lead.

Jason Perry's mis-placed pass got his side into bother, however his defensive colleagues didn't help him out as Simon Huckle exploited the space left by Perry after his error and he found Barry Stevens in acres of space.

The 21-year-old had time to control Huckle's deep left-wing centre and fire the ball past exposed Pat Mountain.

Newport Stadium's silence wasn't just due to the lack of travelling support but the amazement that Epsom, who had only created once real goal-scoring chance previously, were given a sniff by a County side who were completely in the driving seat.

Steve Cowe fired home his first competitive goal of the season in the 20th minute - and first in almost eight months - to settle County's nerves.

Playing on the left-hand side of a five-man midfield, the striker-turned wide-man picked up Allan Stevenson's lay-off and unleashed a bullet, leaving Epsom keeper Kevin Espinosa rooted to the spot.

Stevenson came the closest to doubling his side's lead just after the half-hour mark but a 30-yard dipping effort was tipped over by Espinosa.

Epsom had their first strike on goal in the 39th minute when Mountain saved, diving at Joel Rogers' feet. Later, Stevens put the Ryman League Division One South outfit on level terms.

The Welsh Dr Martens Premier team never seem to want to ram home their superiority when they should, and that is one thing Nicholas knows he needs to change.

Newport were shaken into life after the visitors squandered two golden opportunities from Epsom's Player of the Year last season Huckle.

First, the 20-year-old hit the cross-bar with a close-range header after Adrian Toppings had whipped in a pin-point cross from the right.

Then Toppings sparked panic in the home box as he had penalty appeals turned down.

County keeper Mountain could only half-cleared Kevin Webb's cross and the ball fell to Richard Ingram.

His spurned shot fell to Huckle whose strike was blocked on the line by Scott Walker but Epsom said it hit the arm of the left-back.

Newport went hell-for-leather to avoid a replay, with striker Neil Davis hitting keeper Espinosa instead of the back of the net.

However, it was Shephard that came up trumps yet again for the Exiles as he nodded Stevenson's cross home with two minutes left.

Newport County AFC (4-5-1): P Mountain; J Perry (J Dupres, 78), A Thomas, B Clark (J Eckhardt, 46), S Walker; G Shephard, A Stevenson, M Rose (c), M Fowler, S Cowe; N Davis. Subs Not Used: R Plant, A Gittings, T Hart

Epsom and Ewell (4-4-2): K Espinosa; T Smith, J Hall, N Bennett, G Morris (c); B Stevens (A Nimmo, 88), A Topping, J Buckley, K Webb; S Huckle, J Rogers (R Ingram, 65) Subs Not Used: M Freeborough, M Edwards Referee: Mr K Hawkes (Quedgeley) Attendance: 489