Make it three wins in a row, urges Exiles boss Coughlan
BARROW ............................ 0 NEWPORT COUNTY ......... 1
NEWPORT County manager Graham Coughlan has challenged his players to seal a hat-trick of victories over promotion-chasing opponents when they host second-placed Stevenage at Rodney Parade tomorrow night.
County followed up last week’s 2-1 home win over Swindon Town with a last-gasp 1-0 victory at Barrow on Saturday thanks to captain Mickey Demetriou’s 95th-minute header.
And Coughlan wants his team to make it a treble against Steve Evans’ Stevenage, who were beaten 3-2 at home by Mark Hughes’ Bradford City on Saturday.
“I still believe there’s a lot more to come from this group,” said the Exiles boss.
“It’s two wins back to back, six points and only one goal conceded – let’s build on it, let’s go and look for more, let’s be greedy.
“Why can’t we go and get a third one and keep adding to it?
“I challenge them every day and we constantly speak about putting runs together and getting as many points on the board as we possibly can.
“We know we can do better and we’ll have to be a lot better come Tuesday night.
“It’s a great challenge; they’re up there at the top end of the table and Steve Evans’ teams are always good teams.
“They’ve got some good players and it’s a great challenge for the lads and one we’re all looking forward to.”
Demetriou, who was at fault for both goals as County lost 2-0 at Carlisle United in their last match on the road, sealed the points that lifted the Exiles to 18th in the table.
They are now eight points clear of the relegation zone, but Coughlan admitted his side were fortunate to win after Barrow had Ryan Feely sent off on 81 minutes.
“To win the game late on, it’s a great feeling,” said the boss. “And I’m delighted for Mickey Demetriou because he has had a tough couple of weeks, and he has responded like a true captain.
“I am delighted for the lads in general. We probably didn’t deserve to win the game, but we deserved a little bit of fortune.
“We didn’t start too brightly. We were on the back foot and that’s not us. We made a lot of mistakes, we conceded territory, we were sloppy with the ball – an awful lot of daft basic errors that I don’t normally see.
“But overall, I thought the lads managed the game extremely well.
“It was a very professional performance and a good resilient team performance.
“The character was there, the professionalism and managing the game – all of the things that we spoke about in the week before coming up to Barrow. It was a satisfying win.”