Christian Fuchs says this is just the ‘start’ as Newport beat Crewe to go 23rd

Newport manager Christian Fuchs saw his side climb off the bottom of the League Two table with a 2-0 win over Crewe and said it was just the “start”.

Goals in each half from Courtney Baker-Richardson and Sammy Braybrooke earned County a first home win in 289 days and enabled them to climb above Harrogate and to within just one point of safety at the halfway point of the season.

Baker-Richardson broke the deadlock against the run of play in the 28th minute when he bundled in the rebound after Sam Waller had saved his initial header from a Braybrooke corner.

And Leicester loanee Braybrooke settled any nerves with a controlled drive into the bottom of Waller’s net from the edge of the area with 14 minutes to go.

“I feel very good obviously, very proud, and not only because of that game,” said Fuchs, who celebrated his first win as Exiles boss at the eighth attempt.

“When you look at the last six games we’ve played, we have got six points overall and there are a lot of good things happening here.”

“It was a very good performance from the team,” added the Austrian. “You felt it coming. The boys believe in themselves and we’ve built the confidence now.”

Harrogate lost at Accrington to replace County at the bottom and Fuchs’ men are now only one point behind Bristol Rovers in 22nd.

Fighting

“Anything that goes our way, any positive experience makes a big difference,” said the manager, whose side travel to table-topping Bromley on New Year’s Day.

“But for me, it’s not about fighting relegation. Over the past few weeks the team has shown me that they have way more potential. We want to climb up the table.

“This was a start. It’s a good end to 2025 and we have to enjoy it and then starting tomorrow we will be preparing for the next game in three days.”

Crewe manager Lee Bell, meanwhile, has told his side that they can forget about challenging for promotion after a second defeat in a week.

“We’ve got to help ourselves, we’ve got to do the hard yards, I’ve got to do it. And that’s what we’ll aim to do,” said Bell, whose side have won just once in their last nine games in all competitions.

“I don’t want to keep on saying ‘we need a big response’ – I want some more consistency, some smoother rides along the way.

“I’ve told them: ‘forget the play-offs. Promotion, play-offs, top-three? Forget all that’. We’ve got to concentrate on getting back to doing things on a consistent basis that helps us get better performances and, ultimately, results.”