MICHAEL Flynn said Padraig Amond missed out on Newport County AFC’s League Two opener because they had a better shot at victory at Oldham Athletic without the club great.

The 33-year-old striker did not travel to Boundary Park after manager Flynn went with Lewis Collins and Jermaine Hylton up front.

Kevin Ellison came on to score the only goal of the game late on while Fulham loanee Timmy Abraham added energy as a sub and targetman Jordan Greenidge was the other attacking option on the bench.

Amond has been the Exiles’ top scorer in all four seasons since arriving from Hartlepool in 2017 and has passed 200 games for the club.

He made 54 appearances last season, starting the last nine games when forming a hard-working partnership with Collins.

However, the Irishman has scored just one goal in 2021 and was left out of a matchday squad for the first time since January, 2020.

Amond, who did not play in the final pre-season fixture against Cardiff City, wished his teammates luck ahead of the game on Twitter and his boss explained his absence afterwards.

“He wasn’t in the squad. I picked the squad that I thought would get us three points and that’s it,” said Flynn, who was also without forward Courtney Baker-Richardson through injury.

The manager said on Friday that he had squad members that they are free to look at finding a new club.

"There are one or two who have been told they can leave,” he said. "I treat everybody the same and just because they are not in the plans at the moment, it's down to how they respond to that."

Only four members of Flynn’s squad have not signed deals this summer – Amond, forward Dom Telford, central defender Priestley Farquharson and goalkeeper Nick Townsend.

Amond and Telford, a January signing from Plymouth, did not feature in Oldham. Farquharson started and Townsend backed up Joe Day.

County travel to Ispwich Town in the League Cup on Tuesday before an away game at Mansfield, with the fixture switched to Field Mill because the Rodney Parade pitch is not ready after extensive summer work.