Newport County AFC’s Deadline Day loan signing – Cameron Pring – says he has joined the “perfect club at the perfect time.”
The 20-year old – who can play anywhere on the left-side of the pitch – put pen to paper on a short-loan deal with County earlier today and joins until at-least January 2019.
Pring has experience of playing against the Exiles – featuring for the final 30 minutes of the pre-season clash with his parent club Bristol City – and he played quite prominently for the Ashton Gate outfit throughout the summer.
He already has a promotion campaign under his belt having helped Hereford FC into the National League North last season, with this spell at County currently his fourth away from Bristol City.
Here, you can read exactly what Pring told iFollow Exiles during his first morning as a Newport County AFC player…
On his decision to join Newport County AFC on loan until January…
"I’m very excited to be here. It’s a great club, all the feedback I’ve heard tells me the fans are great, all the boys are great and I’m really looking forward to getting started.
"Back at Bristol City, I’m a left-back and I know Mike Flynn likes to play with wing-backs so it’s perfect for me. The style of play here at Newport County AFC is everything that works for me. It’s a perfect move.
"Lee Johnson just told me to come here and give my best really. That’s all I can do – I feel like I can compete here, this is the perfect league for me at this moment in time.
"In the six-months that I’m here, if I enjoy it and I’m playing well, then I don’t see why I couldn’t stay for the season. I’ve just got to play for places and hopefully do my best.
"I spoke to Tyreeq Bakinson and Antoine Semenyo before joining and to be fair, they both said it would be a great experience for me. They said the boys and the team morale is great – so I’m just looking forward to meeting the rest of the boys now [on my first day of training.]
"I think 100% it helps to have them here. I won’t be like the new kid because there’s two other people who I know and I’m sure they’ll help me get to know the rest of the players as-well."
On what attributes he can bring to Rodney Parade…
"Hopefully I can bring to the team the attribute of being someone who doesn’t like losing.
I" originally started as a left-winger, so I do like to get forward. I moved to left-back a couple of years ago when I first signed for Bristol City so I’m quite happy to get back and forward.
"I think I have a good work-rate, I can bring pace and power, I try to get crosses in – some goals as-well hopefully – and that’s what I’m about really. I’d probably say I’m quite similar to Andy Robertson at Liverpool.
"I think Bristol City know I can play. They’ve sent me here for a reason and I have to prove to them that I can deal with the pressure, the league and everything else.
"I think the play-offs is a target for any team in the league really. The start Newport have had so far this year, I can’t see why not. I looked last night actually at how the team has been doing. Three wins, one draw and one defeat is obviously a great start to be honest."
On spending the majority of pre-season in and around the Bristol City first-team environment…
"I’ve been with the Bristol City first-team through pre-season and having done well during that time, I was lucky enough to be on the bench [during the early part of this season.]
"Unfortunately it was in the Carabao Cup and things didn’t quite go our way, so I didn’t really get the chance to actually play. But it was a great experience all round for me.
"Pre-season was amazing. It was so good, one week in Marbella as-well within pre-season. It helped me massively because it was a different climate to training and it made me adapt to the heat and adapt to a different style of play.
"Out in Spain, they like to pass the ball and they don’t really play the over-the-top style.
"The first game [against Real Balompédica Linense] we drew 2-2 and in the second game against Real Vallecano – who have just got promoted to La Liga – they scored in the last minute to beat us. It was disappointing, but I learnt a lot from it.
"It was a great experience all round for me and it also helped that a couple of the other U23 players were there with me. It was a good trip."
On why playing against the Exiles during that pre-season schedule helped with his decision to join the club…
"We drew 2-2 in that game, it was a good game to watch and be a part of, and I think it shows that Newport are a side who are hard to break down.
"Newport went 2-0 up in that game so it showed me that they like to start fast, it was a good game.
"I think that did help [with the decision to join the club on deadline day] because there were a few teams we played in pre-season, but Newport gave us the best game out of everyone. It stuck in my mind and I think it did help with my decision to join.
"The game itself was a big challenge for me. I could tell they like to mix-up the game a lot – they like to play football and then sometimes they might play in-behind. It was very unpredictable.
"The physical side of League Two is massive, so I think only being 20 – and not really playing much against men – this league will be perfect.
"Not only because I’m here in a team where the left-back is encouraged to get up and down, but it will also help me physically as-well."
On his loan spell at Hereford FC last season – which saw Pring help the Bulls to promotion…
"I think Hereford just liked winning. Everything about the club proved they liked winning and if they didn’t win a game then we’d be moping around all week.
"It was a great experience to get promoted and definitely something I want to be involved in again in my career.
"Again, I think physicality was the main thing I learnt at Hereford FC. I’d be tested with balls over the top and that’s something which I’ve adapted to now and I’ve learnt how to deal with that.
"That loan spell helped me a lot. On the last game of the season, we had something like 4,000 there which was amazing. You don’t realise how much the fans help you whilst playing until you’ve actually played in-front of that many people.
"Like you say, there was added pressure at Hereford because they were the biggest club in the league, had the biggest fan base so there was some added pressure. You need to perform otherwise the fans might get on your back and to experience that, I think has helped me a lot within my career."
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