Michael Flynn hails Newport’s togetherness after last-gasp Stevenage win

Posted Sunday, October 14, 2018 by PA

Newport manager Michael Flynn believes his team’s dramatic victory over Stevenage proves they will challenge at the top of League Two this season.

Exiles midfielder Matty Dolan gave the hosts a rapid start after only 46 seconds when he fired a long-range left-footed strike into the top corner.

There was little to get excited about for the rest of the half until the first minute of stoppage time when Jamal Campbell-Ryce crossed to the back post for right-back Luther Wildin to head back across goal and past goalkeeper Joe Day to level the scores.

A serious injury to Robbie Willmott meant there were nine minutes of added time, and Antoine Semenyo waited until the eighth minute to cut inside and fire into the back of the net to snatch victory.

“It’s the best way to win a game of football,” said Flynn. “We scored right at the beginning and right at the death. We weren’t quite at our best today, but to be able to beat a good Stevenage team when you’re not at your best shows how far we’ve come and how far we can go.

“I thought we started really well, but they were the better team for the last 15 minutes of the first half.

“Jamille Matt was a real handful and he made it difficult for the centre-backs because he was superb.

“They are a great group, they don’t know when they’re beaten. They are very fit, they broke all the fitness scores we set them in pre-season so I know they’re a fit bunch.

“I was glad I wasn’t playing because I wasn’t bad at running but I’d be well behind this lot. You can see that togetherness when we got the goal and everyone was celebrating together.”

Stevenage drop into seventh after the defeat, but manager Dino Maamria believes his side should have taken a point.

“It was a good game of football,” said Maamria. “Unfortunately they finished the way they did because of mistakes we made.

“We should have cleared the first one and we should have cleared it again when it came back in but to be fair to the lad who got the second goal, it was a brilliant finish.

“We conceded very early and then took control of the game and started to play the football we know we are capable of playing.

“We dominated possession and scored a very good goal, with one full-back crossing it for the other one to finish.

“Second half was end-to-end and both sides looked like they were going to settle for a draw, but we made a mistake and it cost us in the 99th minute. We’ve been finishing really strongly lately, but that has really cost us today.”