NEWPORT IoW boss Steve Brougham is standing by his belief that Sholing will emerge as Sydenhams Premier Division champions – despite holding Dave Diaper’s thoroughbreds to a 1-1 draw at the Silverlake Arena on Saturday.

The Boatmen threw the kitchen sink at their Island visitors in a one-sided first half, but had only a Byron Mason goal to show for their superiority Having weathered the storm, Newport upped their efforts after break, hitting back with a disputed penalty despatched with aplomb by former Sholing midfielder Iain Seabrook.

The result keeps Newport top of the table on goal difference from Winchester City, who won 2-1 at Moneyfields.

Sholing and Alresford are a point behind in third and fourth respectively but, crucially, Diaper’s Boatmen are the division’s only unbeaten side and have at least two games in hand on their closest rivals.

Hailing a “brilliant result” for the Islanders, Brougham said: “The first 20 minutes were intense, but I’ve seen Sholing play before and that’s what they do, they bombard sides.

“They’re good at what they do and I still say they’re going to win the league.

“But I’ve got to be pleased with what we’ve done.

“We said at half-time we’re still in the game and now we can go and play a bit with no fear. And, to be fair, we dominated the second half.”

With a spate of ankle problems hitting the camp, Sholing went into battle without Lee Bright, Ashley Jarvis, Dan Miller, Alex Sawyer and Matt Renouf.

Undeterred, they quickly laid siege to the visitors’ goal, hitting the woodwork twice and forcing umpteen goalline clearances and a string of smart saves from Port’s experienced ’keeper Gary Streeter.

Yet for all that pressure, Newport succumbed just the once when Byron Mason’s shot took a deflection off Jake Younie, sending Streeter the wrong way.

With Streeter suffering with a swollen ankle, his second-half replacement Cameron Farley was called into action, pushing Barry Mason’s effort over the bar.

Opportunities followed at both ends as the game opened up and Newport seized their chance on 70 minutes when Danny Cox was deemed to have brought down pacy substitute John McKie. Islanders’ skipper Seabrook stepped up to send Matt Brown the wrong way from the spot.

Sholing boss Diaper reflected: “The game should have been out of sight by half-time. It was one-way traffic for 30 minutes.

“Their goal wasn’t a penalty, but I’m not griping at all.

“The important thing was that we didn’t lose. We’ve not been beaten at home in over a year.

“The only thing that concerns me is the injuries we’ve got ahead of the FA Vase game at Winchester City on Saturday. We’re missing three centre-halves and now Pete Castle’s taken a knock on the ankle and Kev Brewster had to come off.”