Tangerines crush battling Exiles
NEWPORT COUNTY ........ 1 BLACKPOOL ...................... 3
CARETAKER boss Mike Flynn was pleased with the “fight” his players showed despite losing to play-off hopefuls Blackpool at Rodney Parade.
The Exiles came into the game on the back of two morale-boosting away victories against Crewe Alexandra and Morecambe and there was renewed belief County could survive the drop.
But Bright Osayi-Samuel inspired the Tangerines to victory with two goals and an assist, which condemned Flynn to his first defeat since taking over from Graham Westley.
“It’s a first loss under me and I’m disappointed but we’ve still got to win football matches and they showed again that they are fighting,” Flynn explained.
“I can’t blame the players but I just think we need to be on the move a bit more in the box and anticipate more instead of reacting.
“We gave away a poor first goal, but I don’t think [the second] was a penalty. The referee shook his head but then changed his mind.
“The response the players gave me was outstanding and the crowd got behind them. They sensed an equaliser. Their keeper made a great save at 2-1.
“The third goal we put Joe [Day] up and went for it. We wanted to try and salvage something but they went and nicked the third.”
Mark Cullen had the game’s first real chance but he couldn’t direct Colin Daniel’s pinpoint cross goalwards. But the visitors didn’t have to wait long for the opener as Osayi-Samuel controlled a superb pass from Neil Danns before turning past Sid Nelson and firing a shot past Day.
Sean Rigg and Ryan Bird both had half chances for County, who were fortunate to go in at the break only one goal down with Cullen hitting the woodwork twice in final five minutes of the half.
After a scrappy start to the second half, Alex Samuel thought he should have had a penalty after colliding with Danns, but referee Brett Huxtable dismissed the appeals before pointing to the spot at the other end minutes later with Mickey Demetriou bringing down Osayi-Samuel. Cullen converted the spot-kick.
Samuel pulled a goal back with 15 minutes left to go but OsayiSamuel sealed the result in injury time.