BEST WIN OF THE SEASON – FLYNN
MICHAEL Flynn hailed his side’s 1-0 win over Mansfield Town as the most satisfying result of the season.
Just four days on from their stunning FA Cup triumph over Middlesbrough, which earned them a dream fifth-round tie with Manchester City, the Exiles condemned second place Mansfield to just their fourth defeat of the season.
A first-half strike from Robbie Willmott was enough to secure all three points for Flynn’s side who are now eight points off the League Two playoff places with a game in hand.
Mansfield pushed hard for an equaliser and their players were denied what they felt was a penalty in the dying stages of the game.
“That’s my most satisfying win of the season,” said Flynn.
People probably won’t believe that because we’ve beaten Leicester and Middlesbrough.
“But as a group of professional footballers what they’ve gone and done today in the way that they fought was my most satisfying win. Tuesday night was hard on the legs because of the pitch and mentally it was tough.
“They make me very proud and I won’t get tired of saying that. This performance was first-class, it was professional and resilient. “I thought the boys were excellent.” But Flynn thought his side should have won more comfortably after a first-half header from Joss Labadie was disallowed for offside.
He said: “We hung in there at the end and I’m very pleased with our defence. We had one goal disallowed as well which I didn’t think was offside.
“I thought Robbie Willmott was outstanding and it was a great strike for his goal. But I thought he was even better in defence and made some crucial blocks when we were defending late on.
“Robbie stood his ground and their attacking players couldn’t get round him. He’s a good player. That’s why we extended his contract. We try to bring the right players here and I do know my stuff, believe it or not.”
Newport face one of the biggest games in their history against Manchester City next Saturday but they also face MK Dons on Tuesday evening.
And Flynn admitted it will be a challenge to keep his team fresh for arguably the biggest challenge of his coaching career.
He said: “I have got options and you can’t keep playing the same team, especially when the grounds get heavy. It’s relentless.
“Whoever comes in have got to do the business, like the boys have done lately.
“If we’ve got to make a few changes, we’ve got to make a few changes, but I want to win on Tuesday.
“That would be a good starting block to play the Premier League champions.”
NEWPORT: Day; Butler, O’Brien, Demetriou, Poole; Labadie, Bennet, Bakinson, Willmott (Dolan); Matt, Amond. Subs not used: Townsend, Marsh-Brown, Sheehan, Kennedy, Forbes, Crofts.