Assistant head coach Dafydd Williams praised Newport County for their “grit, resilience and commitment” after their 1-0 win over West Ham United Under-21s in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
A late goal from substitute Oliver Greaves in the 83rd minute sealed County’s first three points in the group stage, following two consecutive losses in the league.
“We’ve been bitterly disappointed with the last two league games, especially Saturday, but ultimately it was about bouncing back from that and showing grit and resilience that ultimately you have to have to represent this football club," said Williams post-match.
"We fell short of that Saturday, and it was all about that today and the boys delivered. We want to win every game we compete in and again tonight we fielded a strong team that we fully believed would win us the game and they did.
“We felt maybe we weren’t creating an awful lot of chances in the first half, so we made a couple of changes.
“I thought Jephcott was brilliant in a different role as a ten in the second half and then the additions of Baker-Richardson, Greaves and Antwi as well gave us a bit more of a spark at that stage of the game.
“It’s a good opportunity to speak about Jephcott, he was brilliant tonight. He’s one that could easily be frustrated with game time and obviously not converting chances, but he applies himself everyday really well.
"You can’t fault him for that, and I thought his performance was very good tonight and he’s just missing that goal. But he’s a team player and that comes first."
After the disappointment of recent games, Williams talked about the importance of using the poor run as motivation.
“We spoke before the game about our non-negotiables while representing this football club," added Williams. "Having that winning mentality, having that competitive edge and based on the last two games there was an added incentive for that to get in the team for Saturday.
“Some honest words were shared between players and staff at half time on Saturday. We did see a little bit of a difference in the second half but still not enough.
"It’s important not to forget about that result but to learn from it and the lads showed that tonight through that grit, resilience and commitment that you have to show when you put on a Newport County shirt which paid off.”
Speaking on the significance of the win, Williams continued: “We spoke before the game about how important a win would be here tonight as a steppingstone towards Barrow at the weekend.
"We said how a win would leave us in a much more positive frame of mind to face off against Barrow and we’ve done that.
“Credit to a young West Ham side but they definitely applied themselves brilliantly but yes Barrow will be a different challenge.
"There’s an opportunity for a lot of players to get into the match day squad is there we’ve lost two on the bounce and there’s an opportunity for some lads to prove a point and some of them have.”