Michael Flynn believes Newport’s play-off hopes are over

Posted Wednesday, March 13, 2019 by PA

Newport manager Michael Flynn admitted his side’s Sky Bet League Two play-off hopes are all but over after they were beaten 1-0 by Northampton.

The Exiles had enough chances to move ahead at Sixfields but Jamille Matt and Mark O’Brien fluffed their lines and they were made to pay by a sensational Joe Powell strike.

The West Ham loanee rifled a superb 25-yard volley into the top corner two minutes from time to hand Northampton a fourth straight victory and take them above Newport, who are now eight points off the play-offs.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” said Flynn. “Away from home we haven’t been good enough in both boxes recently.

“I felt we were actually very good tonight. It was a very, very good away performance but we’ve gone and lost the game.

“We had enough chances to win the game. It’s a great goal but you can do something about it – you can get someone on the edge of the box to actually mark him so a player hasn’t done their job.

“I’m not even thinking about the play-offs. You won’t get in the play-offs with away form as bad as ours so I can’t even think about.

“We had chances but it’s the business end of the season and I don’t really care how we play if we win. It’s about getting the points on the board.

“I don’t want all the pats on the back saying we’ve played well tonight because we’ve lost the game so somewhere along the line we’ve done something wrong.

“The performance was much improved from Saturday’s game but that wasn’t hard.”

Cobblers boss Keith Curle was delighted with the victory as his side boosted their slim play-off hopes.

He said: “As the game was panning out, it was one of those nights where both sets of players and both managers had set themselves out not to be intimidated and to make sure they were competitive.

“It was two teams who nullified each other and neither team wanted to take a backward step. Because of that, and because the emphasis was on trying to impose yourself on the opposition, sometimes the quality didn’t shine through.

“We did get some opportunities but the intensity of our play in stopping the opposition detracted sometimes from when we had good possession of the ball.

“But the players showed the willingness, the desire and the character and one of the things I said to them before the game was that we have to make sure we don’t lose any individual battle all over the park.

“I thought we competed very well and just lacked a little bit of quality but then Joe showed the one bit of quality to win the game – it was a fantastic goal.”