By Bob Carbon
Ryan Taylor has two goals in his locker already for Newport County, but his real target is promotion to League One.
The County striker delivered on his promise to build on his debut goal at Scunthorpe as he hammered home the winner on his League debut for Newport in their 2-1 win over Barrow at Rodney Parade.
The former Plymouth man bagged a disputed goal in the 1-1 draw against the Iron, but there was no disputing his claims to a rasping shot from the edge of the Barrow area after Sam Hird had gifted him the ball in a defensive howler.
“It may have been a bit of a controversial goal last week, but I definitely got the last touch,” said Taylor.
“It was great to score on my debut for the club, but I told them I wanted it to be the first of many. I came to Newport because the manager is ambitious and I want to have another promotion on my CV.
“I’ve only been here three or four weeks and I can’t believe the quality in the dressing room. I don’t see any reason why we can’t be competing at the top of the League.”
48′ | GOOOAAALLLL!!
Ryan Taylor capitalises on a defensive mistake and puts County ahead!#NCAFC 2-1 #BAFC#OneClubOneCounty pic.twitter.com/GI8uGQv3DH
— Newport County AFC (@NewportCounty) September 19, 2020
Taylor got the nod to start ahead of home favourite Padraig Amond and Tristan Abrahams, whose goal he poached at Scunthorpe, and almost scored within 10 seconds of the start.
Newport began well, but were guilty of some defensive lapses that allowed Barrow to break and cause them a number of problems.
The League Two new boys were quick on the counter-attack, but found themselves falling behind after 19 minutes when Scott Twine took down the ball in the box and laid it off to wing-back Liam Shephard.
The new boy hit the back of the net for his first goal for a club which his father, Gary, used to score goals for fun for years ago.
Barrow hit back 10 minutes later with a great shot on the turn from inspirational skipper Lewis Hardcastle after the Exiles had given the ball away on the left in another defensive mix-up between Brad Cooper and Mickey Demetriou.
Mike Jones snapped up the ball and played in his skipper who found the left corner of Nick Townsend’s net.
Newport County v Barrow highlights https://t.co/KSdOTeesbw
— Newport County Chat (@Newport_County) September 20, 2020
“Take the first 10 minutes away and I felt really comfortable. We were the better team for 30 minutes after they scored,” said Barrow manager David Dunn.
“We huffed and puffed, but ultimately we got caught and conceded a poor goal.
“As the game went on they killed the game and we were a little bit naive. We need to learn from that and quick.”
