Rowberry likes what he sees at Newport

NEWPORT County manager James Rowberry has admitted he is still learning on the Exiles job but likes what he sees from his Rodney Parade outfit.

Rowberry’s tenure began with impressive league wins over Bristol Rovers and Stevenage, but back-toback defeats at Morecambe and Swindon have followed.

The Morecambe and Swindon losses knocked County out of the FA Cup and the EFL Trophy respectively leaving Rowberry’s men to focus on their League Two commitments.

Newport continue their domestic action at Hartlepool tonight.

“I’m looking forward to it. Hartlepool are on the same points as us and it’s another opportunity for us to put in a performance,” Rowberry said.

“I’ve been pleased with elements of all the four performances so far. I am learning about the players all the time and we are creating opportunities which is positive.

“I’m learning about myself too which is the first thing. The biggest thing I learned from Mick McCarthy from my time at Cardiff was being consistent in my approach.

“I want to focus on what we do and I’m really, really pleased with the squad I’ve got to work with. I said when I came into the club everybody got a clean slate.”

Rowberry continued: “I learned I have a big squad from the Swindon game.

“I wanted the players to give me a headache with selection and it was up to them to do that.

“We had 20 shots at goal and I thought a draw would have been a fair result. I was disappointed to go out of the competition and I’ve got a larger-than-expected squad to work with.

“But I’m sure injury and illness will kick in.”

Rowberry will revert back to his strongest available side to face a Hartlepool outfit who have started their return to League Two in impressive fashion.

A win would take Newport into the play-off spots because they play on Friday night and ahead of the rest of the majority of the division.

“We’ve watched a lot of Hartlepool this week and they play 3-5-2 and are aggressive with it,” Rowberry added. “But we have to focus on us and our principles.

“In my head I will always plan for A, B, C and D because you don’t know what will happen.

“You have to be prepared and in the next few weeks I’ll sit down with my sporting director and chairman and have a look at what we might need.”