Relief as 1-0 win over Exeter City ends Newport County's miserable run in League Two

County’s cup run has sustained them through what has been a frustrating few months in the league.

They won the all-Welsh battle with Wrexham in round two and made national headlines with a stunning victory over Leicester City in round three.

But defeats against Swindon Town, Lincoln City, Forest Green Rovers, Stevenage and Crewe Alexandra in the league have seen them slip into the unfamiliar waters of the bottom half of the table.

Michael Flynn’s men are still in 13th place after this hard-fought win, which came courtesy of Jamille Matt’s poacher’s finish 18 minutes from time.

But they have closed the gap to seventh-placed Forest Green to five points and they can now enjoy the challenge of taking on Tony Pulis’ Boro side for what it is – a nice distraction from the main job in hand.

Fraser Franks, who was injured, Tyler Forbes and Matty Dolan were replaced by Mark O’Brien, Regan Poole and Tyreeq Bakinson and all three contributed to a fine team performance against an Exeter side that was made to look quite ordinary.

Dan Butler, Mickey Demetriou and Scot Bennett also impressed and front three Matt, Padraig Amond and Antoine Semenyo always posed a threat.

Joe Day made a fine save to deny Dara O’Shea before the break and was grateful to see Ryan Bowman’s shot cannon back off the bar in the second half.

But County were the better side and deservedly took the points when Robbie Willmott’s free-kick dropped at Matt’s feet and the striker gleefully dispatched his 15th goal of the season.

“He’s never scored that many,” said Flynn. “I told him when I signed him that I’d get him going again and I keep telling him.

“He’s getting on the end of things and his work-rate is phenomenal. He looks like he’s running in quicksand at times but in the 93rd minute he’s still running.

“The Exeter centre-backs know they were in a game, because he was a handful.”

The Exiles back three also worked hard but, with Bennett and Bakinson battling in midfield, there were few scares in the closing stages – unlike at Crewe last week.

“I wasn’t nervous at all,” insisted Flynn. “What will be will be.

“We did all our tactical work on the training ground and we reverted to three at the back, which I decided on at the last minute, and there were some really good performances out there. I thought we deserved to win.”

Exeter manager Matt Taylor, who had a brief spell as a player at Rodney Parade, didn’t quite see it that way and he felt the pitch played a part in the result.

“We were tough, we dug in, and it’s so disappointing,” said the Grecians boss.

“There was nothing in the game, everyone who was here could see that, on a difficult surface, in difficult conditions to play football in.

“We had a few half-chances and limited them to half chances,” he added.

“That’s why it’s so disappointing, it’s a difficult pitch to create clear-cut opportunities, you’re not going to play free-flowing football in conditions like that but any football that was played was generally played by us for the large part.

“It was always going to be fine margins and unfortunately it hasn’t gone our way.

“You go 1-0 down and you start chasing it and our usual style of chasing the game was to play football, but the ball didn’t move quickly on the pitch or cleanly. It’s bitterly disappointing but we’ll pick the boys up and we go onto the next.”

Flynn and his players know that feeling all too well after the last few months but they can now look forward with optimism after a vital victory.

County: Day; Poole, O’Brien, Demetriou; Willmott, Bennett, Bakinson, Butler; Amond, Matt, Semenyo

Subs not used: Townsend, Pipe, Neufville, Labadie, Dolan, Sheehan, Marsh-Brown

Referee: Charles Breakspear

Attendance: 3,791 (727 Exeter)

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