ISMAIL Yakubu put in a man of the match performance for Newport County AFC as they beat Torquay United 2-1 on Saturday but he was quick to praise his Exiles teammates, writes Andrew Arthur.

‘The Yak at the back’ made his first start at Rodney Parade since the opening day win over Accrington Stanley and helped County to see off a second-half fightback from the Gulls.

But it was his heroics at the other end of the pitch that initially drew delight from the County faithful with his first goal of the season.

Robbie Willmott’s free-kick found the head of Yakubu, who surgically steered the ball past visiting goalkeeper Martin Rice to break the deadlock on 28 minutes.

“I make the same runs every game so it was nice to be picked out for once!” he joked. “It was a great cross from Robbie. I was just trying to get it across goal and fortunately it went on target and I scored.”

Despite his own individual excellence, however, Yakubu was more pleased with the overall performance of his teammates.

“The three points is most important,” he said.

“It was a good team performance. In the first-half we were solid. Conor Washington and Danny Crow played unbelievably well together up-front.

“Obviously, because we worked so hard in the first half, I think in the second we weren’t quite at the same level, but we held strong and defended well.”

The central defender is happy to back in action after a groin injury sidelined him for more than a month and back alongside Tony James, who has also been out with a hamstring problem.

“It is never easy to come into a team that’s doing well, but playing with Jamo is great because he helps me out so much,” said Yakubu.

“I’m really appreciative playing alongside him and Harry Worley as well.”

Yakubu confirmed that County will not be resting on any laurels ahead of three straight away games, beginning at Bury this Saturday.

“The next game is going to be massive,” said the Nigerian-born defender. “We’ve won two games in a row, but they’re done now. We’ve got to focus on the next game and replicate the resilience we showed against Torquay at Bury.”