James Rowberry hails Newport performance in win as one of their best this season

Posted Sunday, February 27, 2022 by PA

Newport manager James Rowberry labelled his side’s 4-2 victory over promotion rivals Tranmere as one of their best performances of the season.

After a subdued first half that finished goalless, County took control when left-back Aaron Lewis broke the deadlock with a fine finish soon after the restart and Dom Telford doubled their advantage from the penalty spot eight minutes later.

Josh Dacres-Cogley pulled one back for the visitors after 65 minutes and they found themselves unexpectedly level six minutes from time when Kieron Davies’ shot was deflected in off Mickey Demetriou.

But Rowberry’s men showed plenty of character to recover from that blow to win the match as Finn Azaz curled a sublime effort into the top corner after 87 minutes and Telford added his second of the match – and 25th of the season – with a tap-in in stoppage time.

It was a nervy finish, but Rowberry was delighted with the attitude and quality his side showed to end a four-game winless streak and stay in the mix for the League Two play-offs.

“It settles the nerves, for sure, but our performance was up there with the better ones of the season so far,” said the Exiles boss.

“Look at the chances that we had – it could have been six or seven goals.

“And there is a reason why Tranmere are third in the league; they are very solid and robust, difficult to break down in their 4-4-2.

“They haven’t conceded many goals and we scored four against them. That is really positive because they are a strong team and it wouldn’t surprise me if they bounce back to get automatic promotion.

“I felt as though we controlled the game with and without the ball,” he added.

“They got two goals back and then again we showed our character and attitude to keep going.”

Tranmere manager Micky Mellon admitted his side were second best.

“I’m disappointed with the whole performance,” he said. “We never really got going but we got ourselves back into it and then we did ourselves in at the end.

“We didn’t show enough character needed at this stage of the season to try to win games of football.

“We let the travelling fans down and all the ones at home. We never found that fight that’s needed in a big game like this.

“We’ve had a frank conversation in the changing room because we were nowhere near the intensity levels needed to get a result in games like this.

“I don’t think we won any of the personal battles and I don’t know how you’re going to get a result if you don’t win any. It was a really poor performance.”