Newport County boss Michael Flynn has challenged his players to put back-to-back wins together to continue their rise up the League Two table after their 2-0 home win over Carlisle United moved them up three places.
The FA Cup giant-killers had goals from newcomer Ade Azeez and Padraig Amond to thank for a victory that moved them into 12th place, five off the play-off places with a game in hand on the teams ahead of them.
Talking about his side’s chances of reaching the top seven to creep into the play-offs, Flynn said: “I am always hopeful, but we have got to win a couple of games in a row.
“We have got to back this up now. We’ve got two tough away games – Northampton have hit form and Colchester are tough at home – and if you offered me three points out of six now I’d probably take it.
“I thought we were brilliant today. First-half they created one or two chances from our own mistakes, but Carlisle aren’t a bad team and they play some very good football.
“They’ve got a good young manager and some good players. It was a very important win for us and it’s the first time I’ve won against Carlisle as a manager.”
The 25-year-old Azeez, bought on transfer deadline day in January from Cambridge United, marked his full debut with a 14th minute goal as he prodded home an Amond header from a corner.
“He is going to frustrate the life out of me at times, I know that, but he is so threatening. He is still getting used to us because we haven’t had a chance to train as much as usual because we’ve been playing Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday,” added Flynn.
“It has been tough for him to come in and he has been injured. I was very pleased with him today and it was an outstanding performance from Jamille Matt alongside him.”
Azeez was given the thumbs up from Amond despite taking the credit for a goal that would have added another one to the Irishman’s tally had he not touched it.
“I’d have done exactly the same thing if it had been me. It was going in, but he gave it an extra prod to make sure it went into the net and score his first goal for the club,” said Amond.
“He had a good game and it was good for him to get off the mark early. As a striker that’s one of the hardest things to do.
“There is always room for an extra striker at the club and we’ve got four good ones now. The competition is going to help everyone.”
