POST-MATCH | Cheltenham town home

Mike Flynn says he was pleased to see his Exiles side record a first victory in four attempts with a 1-0 success over Cheltenham Town at Rodney Parade.

On a night hampered by the wet and windy conditions, Padraig Amond was the match-winner with his second goal in County colours. 

His strike came in the 35th minute, when he diverted a goal bound effort from Ben White past a helpless Scott Flinders in the away goal from four yards.

"Thankfully Scott Brown wasn't there to stop it," Podge joked with reference to the Wycombe 'keepers amazing efforts on Saturday.

Watch Amond's Full Post-Match Interview Here

As expected, the Robins threw everything at the Exiles goal in the latter stages, Kyle Storer denied twice in the final 20 minutes from some expert defending.

A divine intervention from Ben White prevented the midfielder from finding an equaliser on 72 minutes, somehow heading his attempt over the bar with Joe Day beaten.

Then, in the final 30 seconds, it looked for all the world like Storer would find an equaliser, only for Day to magically get something in the way of his header.

READ THE MATCH REPORT

WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS

And Flynn was pleased with the battling performance from his side in tough conditions.    

“It was a very hard-fought victory,” he said.  

“Another clean sheet and sometimes when you’re not at your best and you win a football match then it’s a good sign for the team.

“It wasn’t our usual free-flowing football because of the tough conditions but the boys adapted to it very well and I’m proud of them.”

Despite the score-line, it would be unfair on the visitors to say that they failed to adapt to the conditions themselves. They gave the Exiles plenty to think about during the game, coming close through those two attempts from Storer, with Danny Wright and Mo Eisa not far away in the first-half.

But Flynn thought the score line reflected the true balance of the game over the 90 minutes.

“I think it was a fair result,” he added.

“Cheltenham will feel unlucky but I thought we created quite a lot of chances and we kept a clean sheet against probably the best Cheltenham team that I’ve seen in the League.

“We took our chance, we had a couple of other opportunities as-well and the boys battled really hard.

Flynn continued: “It was a solid performance, it wasn’t an awesome performance and it wasn’t a terrible performance, it was solid.

“Like I said, those players put in a great shift and we kept another clean-sheet so I’m very happy with that.”

In terms of things to improve upon, Flynn has challenged his players to start the game faster, after a slow opening against the Robins.

He said: “I thought we adapted to the conditions very well as the game progressed.

“We had a slow start, I won’t say we were unbelievable and we were perfect because we did have a slow start.

“I think we finished the game stronger than Cheltenham, obviously Joe made a great save at the end but I can’t really think of anything else he did second-half.

“It was a pleasing three points because were weren’t at our best but we managed to win.”

Amond’s winning goal was the first that the Exiles had scored in four games. Amond also got the last one, when he scored the fourth goal against Chesterfield on his debut. He was unlucky not to add to his tally sooner as he found an in-form Wycombe goalkeeper Scott Brown in his way at the weekend, but calmly took his chance this time around.

And Flynn was delighted to see the striker get his just rewards after another positive display.

He added: “It was nice to score because we hadn’t scored in the previous three games.

“I thought Padraig Amond deserved his goal because his work-rate and his unselfish play was unbelievable again.

“You don’t get that noticeable when strikers do that but he worked his socks off and you could see that even in the last couple of minutes when he’s still running into corners.

“He deserved his goal tonight but it was a solid team performance as-well.

“Every striker misses chances, I’ll never get on their back because he’s in the right place where he should be.

“Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don’t and I’ll guarantee you that he scores a lot more than he misses.”

White’s goal-line clearance was already the defenders fourth of the season.

The Brighton loanee prevented Chris Porter from getting a potential match-winner at Crewe Alexandra, before denying both Jake Taylor and Lee Holmes at Exeter City.

And Flynn says it shows the experience of the 19-year old to read the game so well.  

“That’s the sign of a good defender,” he continued.

“How many times have you seen people like John Terry and Jamie Carragher clear it off the line and things like that.

“It’s all about being in the right place at the right time, which it is for strikers as-well who need to do what Padraig did today.

“They need to be in the right place at the right time and thankfully both Ben and Padraig were tonight.”

The side now turn their attentions to the long trip up to face Morecambe at the Globe Arena on Saturday.

The Shrimps picked up a point yesterday, after coming back from 2-0 down at Yeovil Town to draw 2-2.

And Flynn is hopeful of having some of the injured players back for the trip to Lancashire.

He confirmed: “It looks like Marlon will be out for the longest but we’ll take it day by day.

“There doesn’t appear to be any long-term injuries so it’s just about assessing everyone day by day and hopefully getting one or two of them back for Saturday.”

___________________________________

NEXT UP: Morecambe at the Globe Arena on Saturday 16th September; Get tickets online here.

NEXT UP AT HOME: Grimsby Town - 23rd September; Get tickets for this game by clicking here.