BEATEN COUNTY ARE ‘STILL IN A GOOD PLACE’
JAMES Rowberry insists his Newport County side are still in a good place despite falling to a 3-2 defeat against Hartlepool United at Rodney Parade. This was Newport’s first defeat in seven games, and they were comfortably second-best against the unfancied visitors.
The Exiles had played three games in six days and failed to back up their away victories over Carlisle United and Stevenage. But Rowberry refused to use that as an excuse.
“I told the press in the week I wasn’t going to use that as an excuse, and I won’t now,” he said. “But the game is on a Friday night, and after a long trip to Carlisle it’s probably not ideal.
“We’ve actually had a good return from the recent batch of games we’ve had. I’m really proud of them in how we’ve done over this period, but we’ve still got areas we need to improve in.
“When we go behind the need to respond by being patient in our buildup. Hopefully we can do that a little bit better next week.
“We’ve just got to keep focused on ourselves and go game to game. We’ve got to learn from this, and make sure we rectify our mistakes ahead of our next game.”
Former Cardiff striker Omar Bogle’s own goal gave the hosts an early lead before Jamie Sterry and Luke Molyneux fired the visitors ahead.
Robert Street equalised only for Neill Byrne to seal all three points for the visitors.
After a slow start, Newport went into the lead in the 16th minute. Matty Dolan hooked a free-kick into the penalty box with James Clarke connecting with the ball with the pressure forcing Bogle to nudge it into the back of his own net.
Hartlepool found an equaliser against the run of play in the 35th minute when Sterry’s right-foot shot beat Joe Day. The visitors took the lead 10 minutes later when David Ferguson’s through ball released Molyneux who drilled the ball past Joe Day to give Graeme Lee’s side a 2-1 half-time lead.
Street levelled the scores on 71 minutes as he drilled the ball into the net. But, just two minutes later, Nicky Featherstone’s cross found Byrne, who headed the visitors back into the lead.
Newport remain in the automatic promotion places, and Rowberry insists they are heading in the right direction despite this setback.
“We are still in a very good position in the league,” said Rowberry. “I’m really calm about everything because I think we are in a great position.
“We were 14th when I first came into the football club, so we’ve shown great progression since I’ve been here.”
County return to action against Bradford, now managed by former Wales boss Mark Hughes, at Valley Parade next Saturday.
COUNTY: Day, Norman, Clarke (Lewis 48), Demetriou, Haynes, Bennett, Dolan (Willmott 75), Cooper (Waite, 46), Azaz, Street, Telford. Subs: Ovendale, Ellison, Collins, Fisher.
HARTLEPOOL: Killip, Sterry, Ferguson, Liddle, Odusina, Bogle, Featherstone, Molyneux, Byrne, Smith, Crawford. Subs: Bilokapic, Carver, Grey, Hull, Clarke, Fletcher, Francis-Angol.
REFEREE: Alan Young. ATTENDANCE: 4,768.