NOBODY was thinking it midway through the first half but, after a remarkable comeback to record a fifth straight win against Cambridge United, Newport County AFC would love to play against the U’s every week.

Michael Flynn’s men beat United home and away in League Two last season as well as knocking them out of the FA Cup.

And in the first two months of this campaign the Exiles have already dumped Joe Dunne’s team out of the Carabao Cup and now inflicted a crushing defeat in the league.

After a nightmare start in every respect, Saturday turned out to be one of those days you dream about as a football fan.

And the initial adversity just made the eventual triumph all the sweeter for the County faithful.

Already without goalkeeper Joe Day, who pulled out on the morning of the game to attend to a family emergency, the Exiles also lost defender Mark O’Brien to a hamstring injury before some supporters had even taken their seats.

And matters went from bad to worse as former County trialist Reggie Lambe took advantage of some sloppy defending to score two superb individual goals.

At 2-0 down after 21 minutes, the spectre of that 6-0 humiliation against Yeovil Town was hanging over the ground.

But Flynn’s decision to replace Josh Sheehan with Jamille Matt and push Scot Bennett back into midfield led to an incredible turnaround.

“When you go 2-0 down you always feel that if we nick the next goal to make it 2-1 then it’s interesting,” said Flynn afterwards.

“If they go and make it 3-0 then it’s a tough ask but goals change games and it was an outstanding performance from the boys.”

And it was, especially in the 18-minute spell either side of half-time when they rattled in four goals without reply.

Captain Mickey Demetriou got the ball rolling as he buried a penalty in first-half stoppage-time after Charlie Cooper was bundled over in the box.

Padraig Amond ended his nine-game goal drought with a poacher’s finish to level five minutes after the break before Matt headed in two inviting crosses from Dan Butler to really get Rodney Parade rocking.

“The goal just before half time just totally changed their mentality,” said Cambridge boss Dunne.

“I thought the first half was tactically spot on [from us]. We controlled a lot of how they played; we defended the box, they had set plays, we broke, we scored. It was perfect.

“And then it’s a really stupid penalty, a stupid penalty then after that the whole second half was stupidity. That second half becomes my worst day in football, other than the day I retired.

“Being 2-0 up and losing 4-2, it shouldn’t be happening, but unfortunately it has.

“They bought on Jamille Matt and we couldn’t defend against him. We couldn’t do the basics of defending against a striker who has just come on and really changed the game.”

County are back up to second in the table after their best start to a Football League campaign since 1951 but, just as he refuses to look too far ahead, Flynn does not want to talk about his side making history.

“I’ve not looked at the table but we have set targets,” he said. “When we stayed up [in 2017] we won 22 points in 12 games, which was very good form.

“We’ve done that in 10 games now. We could end up with 22 points in the worst case scenario but we’ve got a good chance now to show that we’ve made improvements.”

They can’t play Cambridge every week but right now the Exiles are confident of getting the better of whoever they come up against.

County: Townsend; Franks, O’Brien (Cooper, 3), Demetriou; Forbes, Bennett, Bakinson, Butler; Sheehan (Matt, 39); Amond, Semenyo (Pring, 86)

Subs not used: Pipe, Marsh-Brown, Harris

Referee: Brett Huxtable

Attendance: 3,104 (111 Cambridge)