Optimism for County after the great escape
IT is rare for a club to enter a new season with a huge wave of expectation and optimism after narrowly avoiding relegation in the previous campaign, but that is where Newport County find themselves ahead of the season opener at Stevenage.
Mike Flynn stepped into the County hot seat with the club bottom of league, 11 points from safety with just 12 games to go. But he defied all odds to guide his hometown club to the Great Escape and now leads a new era as County aim to climb the table.
And they will start that new era at the Lamex Stadium this afternoon as a Desso pitch is being installed at Rodney Parade. The work will also see County travel to Crewe Alexandra and Coventry City in the league, as well as Southend United in the newly named Carabao Cup, before playing their first home game on August 26, against Chesterfield.
While admitting it is far from ideal, Flynn won’t be using it as an excuse if County fail to get off to a good start.
“We have known for a while, there will be no excuses from our part,” Flynn said.
“It’s not ideal, it’s not perfect. But it means we get a good surface to play on.
“I have already been able to attract the right type of players because of the surface – it is worth that little loss.
“I don’t want to be anywhere near where we were last season.
“Let’s be honest, we were hanging on and we were quite fortunate even though the boys put in tremendous performances to win seven games out of 12.”
Flynn has strengthened his squad with a number of summer signings including Lamar Reynolds, Matt Dolan and Robbie Wilmott. But a target he missed out on was Great Escape hero Alex Samuel, who snubbed County for a two-year deal at Stevenage and is likely to line-up against his former employers.
He played a starring role in County’s fight for survival, despite only netting twice, but Flynn is confident his defence can keep him quiet. “The players know him,” he added. “They know what his strengths and weaknesses are and hopefully he has an off game, our defenders do their job and he gets substituted after an hour.
“As long as we’re doing the right things and taking steps in the right direction I’m very confident that we’ll surprise a few teams this year and improve a lot on the last two seasons.”