The never give up attitude at Newport County AFC is the main reason why the Exiles can keep on picking up winning results in League Two and the cup competitions, according to Exiles midfielder Tyreeq Bakinson.
County made it six unbeaten at Rodney Parade – former Premier League champions Leicester City and Championship play-off contenders Middlesbrough have visited in that time – with a brave and professional 1-0 victory over League Two high-flyers Mansfield Town.
Robbie Willmott’s decisive first-half strike was enough to give County all three points in South Wales and saw the versatile defender / midfielder score in successive fixtures for the first time ever whilst wearing a County shirt.
Here, you can read what Bakinson exclusively told iFollow Exiles following the conclusion of the contest.
On the victory over Mansfield Town…
“Mansfield Town are a very good team, it was a difficult test but I’m obviously really happy to have been part of the team that got the win.
“I feel like we’ve been unlucky with some of the recent results, it’s improved now and given us a chance to really push on in the league and the cup.
“Playing to that intensity twice in a week is tough, you get tired, but we recover really well between games so it’s not too bad and we were all able to do a job for the team again.
“We’re very happy with the performance, we’ve been working really hard and it’s great that it’s paid off. We’re all really good mates in the dressing room and we’d do anything for the team. That helps with team chemistry obviously and we all work so hard.
“There’s players fighting extremely hard to get into the team so we know we have to play to our best to keep the shirt.”
On Robbie Willmott doubling his goal tally for the season by scoring for the second successive game…
“Robbie Willmott is playing ridiculously well at the moment and that’s obviously great for the whole team.
“But it does help personally as well when you know there’s someone else in the team doing so well.
“It gives you a boost and as I said, we’re working hard as a team to get the points. This goal was with his weaker foot as well so that shows how good a strike it was.
“He’s definitely doing well at the moment and I hope he continues his form.”
On another one of assistant manager Wayne Hatswell’s corner-kick routines coming off…
“Wayne Hatswell works very hard on the training ground and in the games to create set-piece routines. We always hope they come off for him, it gives us that edge so credit to Hats because he’s very good with those.
“The corner-kick routine is essentially what won us the game so that proves it comes off and works.
“We never really know what Hats is going to come up with next, he’s very creative and we trust him to come up with ideas that will be effective in games.
“It’s a great thing to have because it helps the team.”
On facing MK Dons on Tuesday night…
“You always want to play in the big games – like Manchester City – but we know we have to work hard in training and the games to get in the team.
“We’re really looking forward to the match on Saturday but at the same time there’s an arguably more important game on Tuesday. We just want to kick on in the league, we’ll work as hard as we have been to try and achieve that, and also carry on this good run.
“We’ll do our behind the scenes work on MK Dons because like you say, it’s weird that’s it’s February and we haven’t played them yet. It’s a big incentive for us to beat teams above us in the table because it then allows us to go higher – that’s where we want to be.
“With our team, we never give up so there’s always a chance of the play-offs.
“We just need the fans to keep on getting behind us and we’ll keep working hard to get the points and climbing up the table.
“The supporters really are our 12th man, they help us out a lot, especially when it’s packed, and it gives you that bit of extra energy to work harder.”
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