Just back

Quoted from headingly_mariner

Really enjoyed the game after the first ten minutes we were excellent. Some of the passing and movement was great, loved the way the players comfortably shifted positions and gave each other options.
We really have the beginnings of a team and it’s great that we expect a few of the players to be here long term. Need to tie Wes and Hess down.

A word for Jordan Cook who has struggled. He was excellent allround and deserved his goals.  

I'm sure Hess is contacted for next season already.

Did Amond get a good reception, and how did Dennis do when he came on?

Thought every single one of the 14 involved today were on their game, couldnt pick fault with any individual.

Whitmore as a sub came on, got his head on stuff  in both boxes and only denied a goal by a flying save from the keeper , just as Newport were starting to lump it up more more and more, really impressed with his cameo and the decision to bring him on at that time.

Some lovely neat 5-6 yd triangles between Embleton, Cook, Hendrie in the first half...a Tony Rees style back heel from Clifton to get Woolford in for the third goal....and apart from a few isolated incidents we were always looking to feet.

High press, ratty style midfielders nipping at the heels , balls to feet in possession = very enjoyable to watch.

Dennis showed some intelligent touches and off the ball movement in his 10 minutes and was ready to tap in that third if the defender hadnt beat him to it. He looked proper peeed off about that which shows what a goalscorer mentality he has.

UTM

Quoted from chaos33

Did Amond get a good reception, and how did Dennis do when he came on?

Applause all round when he came on.

Firstly sorry Hagrid disagree about Matt who put himself about more and won more headers than he ever did for town, looked half decent today.

Secondly, praise to Russell for that early save which given our slow start was very important. After that credit to all players as we played some excellent football at times and created some really good attacking positions and if we had taken advantage of these score would have been higher.

Defence was excellent dealing with the long ball, aerial threat that the Newport bombardment posed and again Whitmore’s cameo was really important and well timed.

Surprised when Embleton got withdrawn but who cares.

Similarity with AB’s first season increase as the style of play starts to emerge and look promising.

Thought we were excellent today. Jolley has got the players brilliantly organised, particularly defensively. Everybody is clear what their jobs are. When we break, we overload teams and I thought Hessenthaler was superb today. Along with Ohman, Collins, RHJ, to be fair it's hard to pick anyone who didn't have an 8/10 at least. The players clearly have a strong work ethic to go with the organisation and it's great to see.

People seem to think we can finish in the top half, while that would be progress we're only ten points from the play offs and we have a decent run of games coming up. Why not target those play off places?

Quoted from chaos33

Did Amond get a good reception, and how did Dennis do when he came on?

Amond got an applause from everyone he stayed professional though.

Dennis came on for last 15 minutes for Thomas, he is a definite poacher reminds me of an Amond but with a bit more pace. He would have scored a tap in but the Newport player scored instead. His positioning and intensity fits perfectly with the team he is going to score some for sure, good sub to bring on tbh.

Dennis did a lovely first time lay off to the wing. Only a small thing but showed he has a sharp football brain. He was buzzing around the defenders looking for an opportunity constantly. He's seen us score 7 goals in 2 games at BP this season and i bet he can't wait to get amongst it all. Bet he was licking his lips at some of the crosses and chances created today. Probably more than he's seen in half a dozen games for County.

Good performance from Town and overall a decent game if you where a neutral.

MJ got the selection right, a selection that gave us energy, fluidity and improved movement. We passed the ball better and looked unrecognisable in comparison to the Town team of 12 months ago and arguably 12 weeks ago.

Thought RHJ on the right of a back 3 gave us an extra dimension and Newport couldn’t live with us down the right hand side as both Hendrie and RHJ worked well in tandem.

Lots of talk about 3-5-2 but today we executed it really well and as well as allowing full backs to press on it allowed Embleton and Woolly backed up by Mr Consistent Hess to run the game and pull the strings behind Cook & Thomas.

Today all the lads played well and deserve the plaudits as does the manager.

One thing that struck me was that even during a game MJ is building. He replaced Embleton which at first I didn’t get. Clifton played in the same role and did really well which was great to see as next season or if he’s on England duty this Spring we won’t have Embleton, very clever. Additionally he took off RHJ and brought on Whitmore just in case Newport “did a Lincoln” and tried to hoof it up to the big lad to try and get back into the game.

So a good day at the office, still work in progress but progressing well.

UTM!

Only one other thing to add - I thought that Russell did really well again today,  with another clean sheet too.