Matt’s the way to do it
MICHAEL FLYNN reckons Jamille Matt can fire his way back to the top of the goalscoring charts after coming off the bench to sink Port Vale.
The Newport County striker bagged his first goal of the season to take the Exiles’ spectacular unbeaten run to 17 league matches.
It has been more than nine hours since Newport last conceded at home, and now Flynn is hoping his strikers can keep on scoring to mount a serious title challenge.
“I’m over the moon for Jamille because he’s been frustrated and snatching at things as he’s tried to get off the mark and get that first goal, but he’s done it now,” said Flynn.
“The burden has been shaken off and I hope he can go on a bit of a run now.
“They don’t like doing anything easy for me, but they gave their all and were fantastic. We just needed that little bit extra in the final third but we were so resilient with our defending all over the pitch.”
John Askey’s men could count themselves lucky to still have 11-men on the pitch at the end of the firsthalf after James Gibbons slid in late on Robbie Willmott, who had just won the ball with a full-blooded challenge of his own.
But referee Christopher Pollard opted to show a yellow card. David Worrall spurned Port Vales’ best chance of the game after racing in behind Ryan Inniss and onto a Tom Conlon pass, but Tom King came out to smother his shot.
Matt was sent into the fray and immediately linked with Padraig Amond to carve out a chance for Tristan Abrahams, who shot just wide.
The crossbar then came to Port Vale’s rescue after Ryan Haynes cut in from his left flank and unleashed a spectacular right-footed shot which thumped against the woodwork.
But the breakthrough finally came in the 77th minute when substitute Corey Whitely left Adam Crookes in his wake before crossing the ball across the six-yard box for Matt to score his first goal of the season.
The Exiles striker was then dragged down in the box by Port Vale captain Leon Legge, but Padraig Amond saw his penalty saved by Scott Brown.
Port Vale assistant Dave Kevan said: “We’ve proved we can be a match for anyone in the league, we could have taken something from the game.” NEWPORT PORTVALE 4 ........ Shots on Target ..........1 11 ........ Shots off Target ......... 7 3 ................Corners .................4 13 ................. Fouls .................. 21 0 ............... Offsides ................ 0 57.9 .. Passing Success .... 61.8 321........ Total Passes ....... 400 45 ...........Possession ........... 55 51.9...Territorial Adv % ... 48.1