THEY faced another test of character and passed it with flying colours, now Newport aim to maintain their momentum in Plymouth.

Few could have predicted what was about to happen when the referee’s watch passed 80 minutes at Rodney Parade on Friday evening.

The Black and Ambers trailed 32-20 to British and Irish Cup-holders Cornish Pirates, who had displayed their power by scoring three of their four tries through their well-drilled driving maul.

A neat kick through by fly-half Matthew Jones was pounced upon by hooker Andrew Brown and Jones added the extras. Surely it was just a consolation?

But the restart was claimed and centre Matthew J Watkins burst through midfield before offloading to replacement wing Owen Broad.

The flier is similar in stature to Shane Williams and proved fleet of foot to rival the Ospreys star to scorch over down the right wing.

Jones showed nerves of steel to add the conversion and seal a 34-32 win to rival the dramatic conclusion that Shane & Co managed in last year’s Six Nations against Scotland.

“I don’t think anybody saw that coming,” said prop Dai Pattison, who was captain in the absence of Alex Jones.

“Fair play to Owen, he kept his feet on a part of the pitch which was pretty bad because of frost (Broad came on as a replacement for Alan Awcock, who slipped on the rock-hard turf when chasing a restart).

“He showed earlier in the season against Pontypool that he can finish from anywhere and he did brilliantly again.

“That win showed the character of the team and we are really starting to show signs of the form of last season.

“It has been a tricky season with the amount of injuries we have had but we are building game by game and have ground out some hard wins.”

The Black and Ambers head to Brickfields tomorrow for their final British and Irish Cup encounter of the season.

Neither side can progress from the group stages but it’s all about performance for Newport, who head into the game on the back of four victories.

“Qualification had gone before Friday’s win and it has always been about trying to be as competitive as we can,” said Pattison.

“We have been performing much better in recent weeks and are playing with more width, as was shown by Andrew Brown (a hooker) scoring in the corner against the Pirates.

“We believe there is much more to come from us and hopefully we will take another step forward against Plymouth.

“It won’t be easy travelling down to there on a Tuesday evening but we go there with confidence after how we have gone in the last few weeks.”