Coleman frustrated as Newport delay Accrington’s title celebration

Posted Wednesday, April 25, 2018 by PA

Accrington manager John Coleman was left frustrated as his side were beaten 2-1 by Newport at Rodney Parade.

Stanley have already been promoted but will have to wait until facing Lincoln this weekend for another chance to be crowned League Two champions.

Goals from Padraig Amond and Frank Nouble were enough to give the Exiles the win, although Billy Kee grabbed a late consolation.

“Losing football matches is not something we are used to but they were comfortably better than us, especially in the first half,” said Coleman.

“We had to throw a little bit of caution to the wind in the second half and we had a 20-minute period where we battered them and we came close on a few occasions.

“Mark Hughes hit the post and Billy Kee came close. Unfortunately Newport resorted to blatantly wasting time.

“I’m not going to complain because we’ve done the same in the past but it is frustrating. They played the conditions better because the conditions weren’t conducive to playing passing football.

“I feel for our fans who made the trip wanting to have a celebration party. At a place like this they aren’t going to want you to party in their back garden.

“No disrespect to Newport but I expect Lincoln to be better than them, so we will have to be a lot better if we want to win the league on the weekend.”

Newport came close to opening the scoring when Amond was found unmarked in the penalty box only to head straight into the arms of Aaron Chapman. The same player then put the Exiles into the lead with a powerful shot which found the bottom left-hand corner.

Stanley threatened on the stroke of half-time with Sean McConville forcing Joe Day into a save, and Mark Hughes thought he had equalised when his shot hit the post before Newport scrambled the ball away.

Nouble looked to have secured the win with five minutes left when his low shot from the edge of the area beat Chapman.

Kee got one back for Stanley in the dying moments but Newport managed to cling on to the win.

Newport manager Michael Flynn was delighted with his side’s efforts as they ended Stanley’s 15-game unbeaten run.

“We were excellent,” he said.

“It was a slow start but we grew into the game and should have won a lot more comfortably. I am still waiting to win a game without my blood pressure going through the ceiling.

“A draw would have won them the title. They’ll 100 per cent win the league and I’m just glad they didn’t win it at our place. I felt Padraig Amond was the best player on the park.”