Exiles defender David Pipe played for 82 minutes of the Rodney Parade homecoming, as the side secured a 4-1 victory over Chesterfield.
Post-match, Pipe spoke exclusively to iFollow Exiles about the return.
On the performance…
“First half was a bit stop-start with the lad who got injured – hopefully he’s okay.
“No-one likes to see that no matter what team he’s coming from but not only that incident, I thought we were a little disjointed compared to what we have been at the start of the season.
“We came in at half-time, obviously assessed it and everyone knew their role on the way back out. I think the second half says it all for itself.”
On his potential injury…
“I had an unintentional sharp elbow to the top left eye socket.
“Once we scored the fourth one I was struggling to see out of it for about ten minutes beforehand so it was more of a precautionary thing.
“The doctor has had a look at it and he said it’s not too bad so hopefully it’ll settle down and we’re good to go.”
On Frank Nouble’s hat-trick…
“That’s what he can do, he can flip a switch.
“He’s obviously very willing as-well, he worked really hard today and if you can get him one-on-one with people or people try too hard against him then he will terrorise people.
“Obviously Frank has the goals and fair play to him, but you don’t get that all by yourself, but in fairness he’s the one banging them in so he deserves all the plaudits.”
On new singing Padraig Amond…
“He’s settled very well if you look at that.
“In the first-half, he had to occupy the two and did very well. He’s underestimated, he may not be the tallest lad but he’s always on the run, he’s a clever and willing footballer and he’s got the right attitude for this football club. I’m glad he got his goal.”
On the impact of the substitutions…
“To be fair the three lads that came on did well, it’s not easy coming on, especially in the heat.
“Scot Bennett, Dan Butler and Sean Rigg all did well. Riggy and Buts contributed to two of the goals and Benno did his job to sure it all up so fair play to them.
“Frank will take the plaudits but everybody did well.”
On the new Rodney Parade surface…
“I think due to the places we’ve been away, most of the pitches are nice at the start of the season anyway.
“But Coventry’s pitch was exceptional so is Leeds and Southend as-well to a certain extent, the other two weren’t bad either so it’s not as if we’ve gone and played on rubbish pitches and now moved to a good one.
“We know we can play both ways, ugly or attractive football and it’s just about getting that right blend in each game. We won’t get carried away but if we can do that then teams are going to struggle against us.”
On playing against old club Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday…
“I think I’ve got five – I believe Bristol Rovers are the only ones not in the league that obviously I’ve played for so it’ll be a few old replays for me regarding going back.
“However, to be honest with you even though I’ve got certain feelings for different clubs for different reasons then nothing is going to compare to what I’ve got for this football club without being disrespectful to them so I’ll just do my own thing on Tuesday.”