NEWPORT COUNTY....................................2 MANSFIELD.................................................1

MATTY Dolan has excelled in his new playmaking centre-half role and Newport’s impressive style of passing football has guided them to the top of League Two.

Dolan has been switched from his usual midfield position to the centre of a three-man defence by manager Mike Flynn this season and is charged with starting his team’s possession.

He scored an 88th-minute penalty to down Mansfield as Newport stayed unbeaten in the league, but has warned the Exiles they haven’t achieved anything yet.

“You don’t win anything after four games, but it’s good to be top and we’ve had three wins and a draw. We’re obviously doing the right things and we’ve got to keep it going now,” Dolan said.

“We’ve probably got one of the best footballers in the league in Josh Sheehan and everyone is playing their part. It’s starting right from the back, we’ve worked on it, and we’re putting it out there on a Saturday. It’s nice when you get your rewards.

“In the first half we had a lot of the ball and could have been more clinical in the final third, but in the second half they nullified us and scored a great goal.

“But we kept going and finished fantastically. If you look at the game as a whole it’s what we deserved. It was a fantastic result.

“Once we’d conceded it would have been quite easy to let it peter out, but we kept pressing and got our just rewards. Over the course of the 90 minutes there was only one team who deserved to win.”

Dolan has been a key figure in midfield for Newport during their FA Cup heroics against the likes of Leeds, Middlesbrough, Leicester and Tottenham in the last three seasons.

But he has excelled in his new role at the back in Flynn’s 3-5-2 formation.

Newport were within three minutes of beating Premier League Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup and produced another impressive display to brush winless Mansfield aside.

After a goalless first half, the Stags took the lead through Stephen Mclaughlin’s superb strike.

But County hit back and Scott Twine found the bottom corner before Dolan won it.

Referee Samuel Alisson judged Padraig Amond’s cross to have struck Rollin Menayese on the hand.

“To bounce back was fantastic. Mansfield had a full week while we had the game in midweek. Everyone to a man put a shift in,” said Dolan.

“It’s a massive team effort and there is a lot of football to be played between now and the end of the season.”