Padraig Amond continued his rich vein of scoring form at Rodney Parade, scoring for the third consecutive game at the stadium in the 2-0 victory over Yeovil Town.
It was his first headed goal for County, as the Irishman took his tally to four goals since joining the club over the summer.
Post-match, he spoke exclusively to iFollow Exiles about the Yeovil game, the numerous records broken by the Exiles during the victory, and his formidable strike-partnership with Frank Nouble.
On the Yeovil game…
“It was a very good victory.
“I thought we were very professional, we played very well for the majority of the game and it was a comfortable victory in the end I think.
“I don’t believe they did much, Joe makes one good save in the first-half and they’ve hit the crossbar in the last minute. But even that came from a mistake that we made further up the pitch, so I think we can be very pleased with the performance today, especially the lads who defended.
“They didn’t have a lot to do but they were concentrating throughout the whole game, did everything they were asked to do and another clean-sheet at home is brilliant.”
On Joe Day’s incredible first-half save…
“I was right in line with it and I was convinced that it was in.
“I couldn’t actually see where Joe was in the goal and then all of a sudden, he comes out of nowhere and puts his hand up and makes a great save.
“It wasn’t just the save because he pushed it away into an area that was no danger for us. It’s very easy to just save it but to have the mind-set to push it into the right area and not where the Yeovil players were just shows how good a goalkeeper he is.”
On scoring four goals in five games at Rodney Parade…
“I joked to the gaffer last week saying that he should just play me in home games.
“It’s just one of those things where we are very comfortable at home in possession of the ball and we look very good and create lots of chances.
“We do that away as-well, last week was a blip for us, we haven’t taken a few chances away from home but I’m really pleased with how it’s going so far at the club.
“I want to build on it, I want to score away from home as-well but if it means that I only score at home games then I’ll end up with 20 goals a season so I’d be very pleased with that.”
On his partnership with Nouble…
“We’ve formed a decent partnership.
“We can obviously get better but I think anyone that comes up against us knows they are in for a tough game for the whole 90 minutes.
“There’s not going to be an easy ball for anybody and that’s our job really.
“Sometimes it might be the unselfish work that we do to make runs to get midfielders into the game. Frank does an awful lot of work down the wings, he’s powerful running with the ball and he’s a different player to me.
“But I think that we complement each-other really well because you don’t want two strikers that are the exact same.
“He’s big and powerful and I’m small and weak but it does the job I think.”
On County keeping four consecutive clean sheets at Rodney Parade for the first time in 42 years…
“It comes from defending from the front doesn’t it (!)
“The defenders we have here are brilliant. Ben White, I’m not trying to give him a big head or anything but he’s going to have an unbelievable career. He’s so comfortable on the ball and he’s such a good defender.
“You have the likes of Benno (Scot Bennett) around him, Pipey, Mickey Demetriou, Dan Butler and Mark O’Brien to come back in.
“They are very good defenders but if opponents do get past them, then they face the man-mountain in goal Joe Day.
“It’s a great credit to them for the clean sheets, I’m sure they will praise everyone else but they need to take a lot of credit for that.”
On facing Swansea City U23s on Tuesday...
"It’s going to be a chance for some of the lads that are on the fringes to have a run out.
"We played Forest Green in the last round and first half we were okay and second half we probabaly let ourselves down a little bit.
"We want to win the game because it’s a good money-maker for the club. There’s decent prize money for winning games so we want to win the game.
"Obviously, the league is the bread and butter and that’s the one you concentrate on the most but we want the momentum to keep going and keep that home record going as-well."
This week, Padraig and his partner Caoimhe moved into their new house. The striker decided to relocate from the north of England, showing his passion and commitment to the club for the long-term.
On the move to his new house…
“It’s a big thing for me because obviously I’ve been living in a hotel for the last six weeks.
“I moved in Monday, me and my girlfriend, so we’ve both relocated here. Honestly, I’m so happy there, the area is lovely.
“It’s just the little things I suppose, when you’re in your own house then you can cook your own food, you’re not eating out all the time because you’re in a hotel so it makes things a lot easier for yourself.
“I didn’t want to rush into it because I needed to make sure it was the right place and I’m really happy that we’re settled now.”