TAYLOR BRACED FOR HARD FIGHT
MATT Taylor is expecting a very different test when he takes his high-flying Exeter side to Colchester just three days after beating Newport.
Chances were few and far between on a miserable, blustery Boxing Day afternoon, with the wet conditions turning the pitch into a quagmire.
The only goal came in the 14th minute when Jake Taylor’s shot was blocked and Lee Martin was on hand to follow up and lash the ball into the bottom corner of the net from 15 yards.
It took until 24 minutes for Newport to have a shot at goal, but Josh Sheehan’s effort flew wide of Jonny Maxted’s upright.
Taylor Maloney poked a shot straight at Maxted with another half chance for Newport, while Nick Townsend had to be alert to tip Lee Martin’s snap-shot over the bar.
Taylor knows today’s trip to fourth-placed Colchester will be a different game altogether. He said: “Colchester will be a very different game on a different surface and a different opposition.
“We only scored one – we wanted to score more, but when the pitches are like that, you are unlikely to get high-scoring games.
“From the start, we competed. We were tough, we were quick to the ball and, with the way the team was set up, it meant we had bodies in the right place and they were willing to do the dirty side of it and the space was generally on the outside.
“It is a better surface out there (on the wings) and we tried to utilise that space as much as we possibly could. In the end, one goal was enough.
“Newport are never dead and buried. They are a fantastic team that keep going until the end and there is often a sting in the tail with them.
“But I felt we kept them at arm’s length all day. They had a few set-pieces and a free-kick at the end but (goalkeeper) Jonny Maxted was relatively comfortable with that and it demonstrated our desire to put bodies on the line.”
Newport boss Michael Flynn feels his side are lacking in confidence as they slipped to a fifth match without a win.
“We battled well, we tried everything we could,” he said. “When we got in the final third we lacked confidence, if I am being honest.
“I have no arguments about the result because we didn’t really create enough chances although, when Lewis Collins came on, he did really well.
“He was close to coming on at half-time but he started to feel his quads in the warm-up. “We are on a bad run, I am not going to deny it. We have got to snap out of it because we have ambitions to do well in this league and, at the moment, we are not helping ourselves one little bit.”