Ruel Sotiriou's second goal in as many games helped Leyton Orient to secure a point away at Newport County in a game that saw both sides pay respect to their former manager, Justin Edinburgh.

Edinburgh was in charge of the O's when he passed away from a cardiac arrest in June, and he was also the man at the helm for Newport when they returned to the Football League in 2013.

Sotiriou bagged his first goal in the Football League for the O's in the Boxing Day defeat to Colchester United and added his second of the campaign after just two minutes at Rodney Parade.

Ross Embleton's side looked to be hanging on for their second successive win away from East London, but Padraig Amond's strike nine minutes from time ensured the points were split.

Sotiriou was handed his first league start for the club having scored off the bench against Colchester, while Myles Judd also returned for the O's having completed the suspension he picked up in the win at Cambridge United.

The game was just two minutes old when the young Cypriot got his name on the scoresheet again, getting a touch to Josh Wright's free-kick to give Orient the advantage.

Lee Angol had a chance to make it a quickfire double for the visitors after a frantic start from them, but he volleyed over from Dan Happe's cross.

Josh Sheehan came the closest for Newport in what was a largely disappointing half for them, curling a free-kick just beyond Sam Sargeant's right-hand post.

Hearts will have been in mouths for Orient fans shortly after the restart as goalkeeper Sargeant went down with what appeared to be a shoulder injury, but fortunately, with Dean Brill looking set to be out for the season with a hamstring problem, he was okay to continue.

Tom King was called into action for Newport again just after the hour mark, doing well to beat away Happe's header from an excellent Jordan Maguire-Drew delivery.

Newport began to put the pressure on towards the end, though, and it eventually paid off as, with 81 minutes on the clock, a hopeful ball into the area found Amond and he rifled the ball home to level the game.

The Exiles also had the best of the closing stages, but Orient held firm to take a point away from South Wales.

Next up for the O's is another away trip, this time on New Year's Day to Walsall at 3.00pm.

Orient team: Sargeant; Judd, Ekpiteta, Turley, Happe; Wright, Marsh, Clay; Maguire-Drew, Angol, Sotiriou

Subs: Gorman, Coulson, Dayton, Brophy, Harrold, Janata, Kyprianou