Michael Flynn: Newport's three points the perfect present

The Exiles climbed to second in League Two thanks to Saikou Janneh’s first goal for the club from close range in the first half.

Rovers were reduced to 10 men when Paul Lewis saw red for a dangerous tackle on Joss Labadie early in the second half and County safely saw the game out without goalkeeper Nick Townsend being forced into action.

Manager Flynn turned 40 on Saturday and after a morning with his family was thrilled with the response to the first league setback of the season at fellow high-flyers Cambridge.

“I had a lovely morning,” he said. “My amazing wife looked after me and my boys were running around all excited and I saw my dad.

“It was nice and I had lots of lovely messages and lovely gifts from the club that the chairman organised, but all that mattered today was getting the three points.

WINNER: Saikou Janneh celebrates

“We were the better team when they had 11 men and the better team when they went down to 10.

“We should have killed the game and been out of sight but they are a very, very strong team with a lot of good players.

“Their manager (Mike Jackson) was a tough player himself – I played with him and know he is a winner – so it was a very, very good three points. It was a physical battle and I thought we stood up well.

“I thought they all had good games – it was a solid 7/10 and that’s the pleasing thing. We’ve got to keep doing that to win games and can’t have three or four players off it, because we will get punished.”

County were given an additional challenge by a malfunction at Rodney Parade.

“The sprinklers were broken so I am glad we won, because I didn’t want to use it as an excuse,” said Flynn. “It slowed our play down but the boys coped well and we still tried to play football.”