BOSS Craig Harrison hailed Airbus UK Broughton’s spirit after they fought back to beat Newtown on Wednesday to climb up to ninth.

The 3-1 home victory, secured with goals in the last 11 minutes by captain Mark Allen, Ryan Edwards and top-scorer James McIntosh, went some way to banishing the memory of Saturday’s miserable 4-0 home defeat to defending champions Llanelli.

Harrison, whose men make their way to 13th-placed Porthmadog tomorrow (2.30pm), said: “It was a really good win and I thought it was thoroughly deserved. The worse thing Newtown could probably have done was to score first because they just kept retreating. We kept our shape and kept the ball moving because they looked tired having had to work really hard to get a great point at The New Saints on Saturday. Maybe we weren’t as tired because we just never got going against Llanelli.

“I wasn’t happy after that game but this was the perfect response. The lads showed great character, especially to come from a goal behind against a decent team.”

Newtown’s opener was a result of Phil Palethorpe’s failure to deal with a deep free kick. Harrison had strong words with the former Chester City goalkeeper at half-time, which he believed had a positive impact.

Harrison said: “Even though I thought we didn’t keep a high enough line, Paley should have done better and we had crossed words in the changing room. The players know that the final word goes to the manager, but I encourage them to have their say as I don’t want a bunch of mice.”

The match marked the debut of Northern Ireland Under 19s international midfielder George Stewart, who has signed on loan from Wrexham until the end of the season.

Harrison, who remains in the market for a striker, will be without attacker Tom Rowlands tomorrow through suspension after he was sent off against Llanelli.