Michael Flynn praised his players resilience after Newport County AFC made history at Rodney Parade by maintaining their unbeaten start to the 2019/20 campaign with a 1-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle.
The Pilgrims came to South Wales with a 100% record in league and cup but were condemned to their first defeat of the season when Kyle Howkins drifted into the penalty area and powered a header into the roof of the net with ten minutes to play.
It took County’s unbeaten run in regular season Football League matches to 13 – ten of which came in last season’s epic run to the play-offs – which is a club record.
Statistics always look positive after a victory and an unbeaten run akin to this current one, with County having kept eight clean sheets in the last 11 league matches.
Read the full match report.
Flynn affirmed: “Without us being great, we were very solid, resilient and we managed to get the three points. The players were excellent.
“I didn’t think we were great first half. We didn’t keep the ball well enough and I think we paid them too much respect. Second half was much better, and we created a lot of chances.
“We’re going from strength to strength but it’s just a good start. No one is getting carried away and I won’t let them get carried away. We haven’t lost a regular game since March 12th [against Northampton Town]. That is a fantastic effort from the players.”
Howkins had found the target in pre-season with another powerful header against Weston-Super-Mare, but this was his first competitive strike for the Exiles after a pinpoint cross from Ryan Haynes.
“It was a great header from Kyle,” Flynn continued.
“We’ve challenged him because he should be scoring a lot more and it was a real dominant, powerful header. I’m over the moon.”
County have the chance to extend their longstanding unbeaten league record when they travel to Walsall FC on Tuesday night – their first ever trip to the Bescot Stadium.
Flynn added: “The main thing we tried to get over to the players was that we wanted a good start. The league table doesn’t form properly for 10-12 games, so we’ll have a look where we are then.
“It’s always important to have a good start and I think we have done that because we could have easily won all three.”
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NEXT UP | County make their first ever trip to the Bescot Stadium to take on Walsall FC on Tuesday night. Tickets can be purchased here.
ON PARADE | The Exiles return to home league action next Saturday when they host Crewe Alexandra at Rodney Parade. Buy tickets now.
CARABAO CUP | County have been drawn at home to Premier League opposition West Ham United on 27th August – a match live on SKY Sports. Read the following press release regarding tickets for this fixture.