Jolley up for Exiles as safety ‘assured’
NEWPORT eased their relegation worries with a vital victory over Wycombe that should see them safe, according to assistant manager Jimmy Dack.
Christian Jolley’s first goal since the opening game of the season and a late thunderbolt from Chris Zebroski saw the Exiles pick up only their third win in their last 23 league matches.
And, having battled for the play-off places before Christmas, Justin Edinburgh’s side are surely now safe – though it leaves the visitors embroiled in an almighty scrap with Northampton to avoid the trapdoor to the Conference and the pair meet on Good Friday.
“It has been a long time coming, a win at home, we’ve not been playing too badly but we’ve made a lot of stupid mistakes and been punished for them but we didn’t make any,” Dack said.
“We were quite accomplished, it could’ve been more than 2-0, we were a little bit nervous at the start and so were the crowd but we helped to get each other over the line. The boys haven’t hidden, they’ve kept plugging away and we will try and kick on with as many points as we can.
“We needed to win, the pressure is always on us at home, but we needed that win. Before the start of the season 99 per cent of our fans would’ve been happy with staying up.”
Meanwhile, Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth was distraught at the manner of the defeat.
He said: “It was a terrible game to watch, the ball was in the air more than it was on the ground and that’s terribly disappointing.
“We wanted to play a bit, we had the better chances in the first half, but in the second I couldn’t recognise us, we were a shadow of the team that beat Dagenham.
“We fell to pieces in the second half, I am flabbergasted at the performance, and we’ve given ourselves a big ask now in the game on Friday against Northampton.”
The Exiles were lucky they didn’t fall behind early when Nick Arnold’s effort was spectacularly cleared by Darcy Blake.
That gave Newport impetus and Jolley was denied by Matt Ingram and Rene Howe headed wide.
Wycombe came close on the stroke of half-time when Matt McClure’s header was tipped away by Ian McLoughlin and the visitors were made to rue their misses.
First Ryan Jackson’s long throw caused panic and Jolley swivelled to fire home. Five minutes later Newport delivered a killer blow to Wycombe when Howe headed down a long ball into the path of Zebroski who lashed it into the top corner.