FLYING FLYNN’S READY TO TAKE ON THE WORLD
Abrahams’ penalty earns County a draw
NEWPORT boss Michael Flynn believes his side can beat anyone in League Two after their draw with top-ofthe-table Exeter.
A first-half goal from Lee Martin saw the visitors lead at halftime, with Tristan Abrahams’ penalty salvaging a draw.
The Exiles are unbeaten at Rodney Parade since February and have only lost one game in 18 regular League Two fixtures.
“When we are clinical enough we will give anyone a game,” said Flynn.
“If we are on it, it’s not very often they come up short. The side I fear the most is ourselves when we shoot ourselves in the foot.
“I thought we should have won the game. In the second half we were by far the better team.
“I just said to Jamille (Matt) that he should have had a hat-trick, but he said he should have had four. For 15 to 20 minutes in the first half they dominated.
“They switched the play well and they looked dangerous going forward. But we grew into the game.
“In the second half we had to open up and play with more pace. Podge (Amond) wasn’t really getting the service he needed and we had to try to change it up.
“It worked and we were by far the better side in the second half. I thought Exeter’s first goal should have been disallowed.
“We should have had a freekick before. The corner was taken and it was a foul.
“If it hadn’t been taken fair enough, but it had been taken. The referee said he blew the whistle before he took it, but he didn’t.
“The one incident I was fuming about that between the four of them they missed a blatant stamp on our player. It was disgusting and between the four officials nobody saw it. That cannot happen.”
Exeter started strongly, with Randell Williams forcing Tom King into a cracking save with his header very nearly finding the back of the net. Newport’s Josh Sheehan then received a yellow card for a late challenge on Nicky Law.
The visitors took the lead when a cross from Dean Moxey was turned into the back of the net by Martin in the 16th minute.
Newport dominated the second half when Matt fired inches wide from a cross from Abraham. The Exiles were awarded a penalty when Sheehan was tripped up in the penalty by Tom Parkes.
Abraham drilled the penalty into the back of the net in the 64th minute to level the scores at 1-1.
Newport threw the kitchen sink at Exeter in the closing stages but had to settle for a point. Exeter manager Matt Taylor was content with the outcome, but slammed the performance of referee Neil Hair.
“I thought it was a fair result,” said Taylor. “You know Newport are going to put you under pressure. I thought we started really well and dominated the ball.
“If we are going to control the game like that then we’ve got to make more use of the ball.
“We did that for about 25 minutes and then, full credit to Newport, they threw everything
at us and we just weren’t able to get enough of the ball for the remaining 60 minutes. We stood up to it which I was very pleased with. It took a slip and a penalty for them to come back into it, which was unfortunate.
“I thought the referee was influenced by the crowd, not in terms of the penalty decision, but in terms of his overall decision making.
“It felt like every 50/50 decision went their way and you could just sense that in his body language. I’m not moaning about the penalty, but I did think the referee had a poor afternoon.”