Newport County boss knows his side must improve to shock West Ham United

Padraig Amond’s stoppage-time winner gave County all three points against Crewe and saw them climb to fifth in the table before the Carabao Cup clash with the Hammers.

But Flynn admitted that the Exiles failed to shine against the Railwaymen on a scorching hot day and they will need to raise their game if they want to shock another Premier League side in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

“The heat could possibly have played a part but it was the same for both teams and their players handled it better than ours,” said the manager after Saturday’s smash and grab victory.

“I just thought we were really poor going forward; we didn’t keep the ball; we made the wrong decisions and people weren’t moving off the ball to get on the ball.

“It was a really lacklustre performance but, what they did do, they kept going and going and I’ll never question their work-rate and their attitude.

“We didn’t deserve to win it,” he added. “I’m not one of these managers that tries to deflect. If you try to be clever, people see through it.

“We were poor. Crewe were the better team. They didn’t create too many clear-cut chances but on possession and balls into the box, Crewe should have won the football match. It’s as simple as that.

“But they haven’t and we have. And it’s quite positive, in a way, that we can be that bad and still get three points.”

Flynn will be looking for a big improvement in attack tomorrow night and he promised his side would make life difficult for the Londoners.

“We can’t just sit off Premier League teams because they’ll just pick you off,” he said.

“It’ll be like a training match for them if you do that. You’ve got to get in their faces and make it difficult.

“It will be interesting because the pitch is nigh-on perfect so they’ll be no advantage pitch-wise, but the stadium and the crowd can give us a little boost.”

Midfielders Joss Labadie and Scot Bennett and striker Jamille Matt all missed Saturday’s win and Flynn is hopeful that one or two could be fit to face West Ham.

“I didn’t have too many options [on Saturday],” he said.

“Lewis Collins has got his debut, so that’s another positive.

“But Benno’s out, Jamma was missing, Matty Dolan had to come off – not injured, he just blew up – and Labs I couldn’t put on because he wasn’t confident [with his injury].

“Jamma took two big bangs on his knee [at Walsall last week] and we had him in for a fitness test [on Saturday morning].

“It still hasn’t settled down and I couldn’t risk him, but we could possibly have a couple back for Tuesday.”