County hunting more progress against Pilgrims
HOME PARK PLYMOUTH v NEWPORT
N3pm EWPORT County go in search of their first win in five clashes with Plymouth Argyle this season as they look to haul themselves out of the relegation places at Home Park.
The Pilgrims need just a point from County’s visit to secure promotion to League One while victory or even a draw for Michael Flynn’s Exiles could drag Hartlepool into the bottom two though they have a trip to basement boys Orient today.
County did their attempt to climb out of the bottom two for the first time since November the power of good last Friday with a 1-0 victory over Yeovil a Rodney Parade thanks to Mickey Demetriou’s 25-yard freekick.
In doing so caretaker boss Flynn believes County have dragged the west country side into the relegation dogfight with just four points separating four clubs with four games to go.
“It’s a huge result and we have now pulled Yeovil right into it aswell,” Flynn told the club’s website.
“We’ve clawed back 10 points from eight games, it’s a huge effort from the players and they were absolutely outstanding.
“They felt quite comfortable against Yeovil in terms of they looked solid again, got another clean sheet and did the right things in the right areas. Our build up play was good and I’m proud of them.
“We have a difficult away fixture at Plymouth, so it’s no time to bask in happiness and we need to concentrate solely on Monday.
“We’ll go there with full respect of Plymouth. They are a very good team, good management, very close to League One now so good luck to them. Hopefully, we can delay their promotion for another week.”
“They’re a really good team, they’ve done really well this season.
“We’ve had some great battles with them this season and always come up short so let’s hope that we can go a bit further and get three points down there because that would be huge, a massive achievement for the boys. It would send a huge message to the rest of the league.”
Plymouth beat County when Warren Feeney was in charge 4-1 in the Checkatrade Trophy in August and won 3-1 against Graham Westley’s men in League Two at Rodney Parade in October.
And, after a 0-0 draw at Home Park, they won again in Newport in the FA Cup second round replay in December to deny Westley’s team a trip to Liverpool in the third round.
And after Flynn had his players in for Easter Sunday training, he was fulsome in his praise for two of his midfielders – Sean Rigg and Mark Randall - as they look to continue the great escape plan in Devon.
On Rigg, he said: “It’s a massive boost to have Riggy back. He was outstanding when he came on. He relieves pressure, he wins free-kicks in good areas and it allows the back 4 or 5 to have a breather and re-organise. He’s crucial for us.”